Connolly environmental bill seeks to improve manure handling

Assemblymember Damon Connolly of San Rafael has introduced a bill intended to help California dairies reduce greenhouse gas emissions by changing how they manage cow manure.

Assembly Bill 2100 seeks to expand access to the state Alternative Manure Management Program, which has awarded $113 million to 172 projects since 2017. The program provides farms up to $750,000 to implement practices that reduce the amount of methane emitted from manure.

Funded projects can include techniques such as composting manure for use on pastures and avoiding the conventional practice of storing manure in ponds.

“California dairy farmers are struggling to survive, let alone adopt new strategies to reduce methane emissions,” said Connolly, a Democrat who represents Marin and part of Sonoma County. “This bill helps our local farmers to transition to sustainable practices like composting that can help reduce emissions and improve water quality.”

AB 2100 would create a committee to study how such practices could enable the state to reach its climate goals. The bill also would have permitting agencies improve the process for awarding grants to dairy projects.

Connolly’s staff noted that in Marin and Sonoma counties, 35% of dairies applied for state grants to fund manure projects.

“However, several were unable to access the program due to a lack of funding, and reports on the ground indicate demand would be even greater if there were more funding and a higher likelihood of approval,” Connolly said.

Fourteen manure project applicants in Marin and Sonoma counties were awarded a total of $8 million and are expected to cut nearly 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, according to Connolly’s office.

Randi Black, a dairy adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension, said she helped 23 dairy producers apply for the manure program.

“This program is incredibly important to not only improving the climate impact of our dairies, but helping them make beneficial improvements on farms that might not be financial priorities, especially with the recent impacts of COVID, drought, fire and flood,” said Black, who is based in Santa Rosa.

Statewide, the California Department of Food and Agriculture estimated the grant program helped reduce 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over five years.

By 2030, the state wants to have reduced dairy greenhouse emissions through manure management by 40% below the 2013 emission levels.

“All of our region’s dairies are already doing incredible work to mitigate their environmental impact,” Black said.

Bivalve Dairy in Point Reyes Station joined the Alternative Manure Management Program in 2020 and expects to finish its grant-funded project next month.

The project received a $365,157 grant to perform new composting practices, according to the state. More than $250,000 of the project cost was matched by the dairy.

Bivalve Dairy, which has about 100 cows, reduced emissions by an estimated 3,171 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the state reported.

John Taylor, co-owner of the dairy, said greenhouse gases are emitted when the sun shines on manure-filled ponds.

“So the program put together by the state said, let’s figure out how to not store manure in its liquid form,” he said. “If it’s in its natural form, it will naturally compost and go back to the cycle.”

He said his project uses robots “similar to a Roomba vacuum” to remove cow manure from a barn. The manure is then pumped into a separator that extracts water and places solids into a vessel to create compost.

Taylor said the new compost can be applied to the dairy’s fields. He said the project saved the dairy millions of gallons in water it would have used to flush manure out of barns. The ponds can now be used to only store rainwater.

Taylor said there are several manure management practices his dairy can perform.

“The nice part about this was its flexibility from farm to farm,” he said about the state program.

AB 2100 was read in the Assembly on Feb. 18 and might be reviewed by a legislative committee on March 21.