Use Permit Application No. PLN2024-0005 – BA Digester

Use Permit Application No. PLN2024-0005 – BA Digester

Request to establish a biogas facility on a 294± acre parcel located in the General Agriculture (A-2-40) zoning district. The proposed facility will serve as a digester hub to process manure wastewater from six dairies located in Stanislaus County within 2.5± miles of the project site. The project parcel is currently developed with two single-family dwellings, 70± acres of orchard, 170± acres of row crops, and a portion of the Cross A Dairy facility consisting of heifer pens, two freestall barns, and feed storage. Cross A Dairy currently operates on the project parcel and the parcel immediately to the north, further identified as Assessor Parcel Numbers (APNs) 014-017-001 and 014-008-004, respectively. The project proposes to demolish heifer pens and one freestall barn in order to develop a 6-acre area, containing a 1.3± acre covered anaerobic digester, appurtenant digester equipment including a hydrolyzer (which carries out hydrolysis), various processing, thickening, flush, and collection pits, jet mixing systems, a biofeeder, three combined heat and power engines, screen separators, and a regenerative thermal oxidizer. The project will also install a 1,680 square-foot utility building for storage and a 360 square-foot office trailer for operations and management. The 6-acre project area will be paved, and include five parking stalls adjacent to the office. The facility will take manure waste from existing dairies and capture the biogas that is produced in the break down process within a covered anaerobic digester. After the digester captures biogas by-products, it will be transferred to an off-site injection point, where it will be transferred to a processed and upgraded to renewable natural gas (RNG). Upon initial development, wastewater will be trucked in from off-site dairies via a “virtual pipeline”; however, the applicant anticipates that an underground pipeline system will gradually be installed within the County road right-of-way to pipe wastewater from each of the six donor dairies to the proposed digester. Wastewater coming out of the digester will be transferred back to each respective dairy pursuant to the quantities listed under each dairies current wastewater management plan (WMP); no net increase of wastewater will be applied to any of the dairies. Manure solids will be filtered out and used for normal dairy operations including bedding and crop fertilizer at each dairy. The digester will operate 24 hours a day/seven days a week. Up to two employees will be on-site Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and be on-call in case of emergencies. Up to 40 truck trips per-day are anticipated to transport biogas, RNG and dairy wastewater. Once pipeline infrastructure is in place, the facility anticipates up to 10 truck trips per-day. Two employee trips will occur per weekday. The project site is currently served by several private wells, including domestic wells serving the residences, a monitoring well, and condensate well. Septic systems serving the residences. The project site has existing access to County-maintained Bentley Road via a 40-foot-wide, approximately 2,000± foot long all-weather driveway located on APN 014-017-001, immediately north of the project parcel, currently used for dairy facility traffic. The project site is currently enrolled in Williamson Act Contract No. 71-147 and will remain enrolled if approved.

Oakdale

Stanislaus

Citywide, Countywide

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Central Region 4 (CDFW), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Transportation, District 6 (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Fresno Region 5 (RWQCB), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Department of Toxic Substances Control, Office of Historic Preservation, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights

Other (Agricultural dairy digester hub)

Use Permit

None identified to date