By Anastasia Pirrami for Great Lakes Echo.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

The University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and Agra Energy are operating Wisconsin's first commercial facility to turn manure into fuel for trucks and jets.

The project started six years ago when Agra Energy searched for waste streams to turn into fuel and that went into existing infrastructure such as tanks, pumps and engines.

The California based company refines biogases produced by landfills, food waste or manure from Wisconsin farms into fuel, said Tony Long, Agra Energy's president and chief technology officer. Its technology converts hydrogen and carbon monoxide into a chain of hydrocarbon molecules.

Those are then separated to make diesel and jet fuel - something called the fisher trope process. It is a process used on a large scale by companies like Shell and Arco in countries such as Qatar and Malaysia to ship natural gas, but not by using waste streams.

"What they do is convert liquids and then they are much easier to ship," Long said. "It's not that it doesn't exist, but applying it specifically to waste streams and that small scale is what was unique about what Agra's bringing in the research at University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh."

After a successful pilot facility was built and operated at the university in 2020, the new facility will be running in early 2023.

The process produces diesel and jet fuel but not gasoline. Gasoline needs aromatics which the particular technology of this process does not create, Long said.

Biogas also helps mitigate emissions that would have otherwise escaped from landfills or manure lagoons and contribute to the greenhouse gases that produce climate change. Using the methane these sources produce dramatically reduces its climate impact by converting it into carbon dioxide, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The facility is in New Franken, right outside of Green Bay. It was strategically placed in Wisconsin because of that state's "untapped biodigester market," said Kenneth Johnson, the biodigester research and operations manager at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

A lot of the biodigesters in Wisconsin just process the manure, Johnson said. Sometimes, farmers will even just flare, or burn, the gas and not use it at all.

The University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, has one of the first research operated digesters in the nation. By having gas-to-liquid systems, many other groups that want to do similar work with biodigesters and renewable biofuel will go to Oshkosh to test their products and ideas, he said.

"Coming here was a great opportunity to buy up some of the market for this fuel because we have a ton of digesters and farms," he said.

As the first facility in the state, Johnson is expecting some growing pains to commercialize the fuel with a competitive market. People must realize there is value to biogas, he said. There needs to be buyers.

As a new fuel source, there is a challenge to certifying biofuel as diesel. When diesel is produced, so are equal parts of jet fuel, he said. Jet fuel is harder to certify because a jet could stall in the air.

"The goal is to show that the diesel production in the facility works great," Johnson said. "And then their future push is to certify the jet fuel. So, the biggest challenge now is to make sure that what they are producing meets specs that are required from certification panels."

The goal for the new commercial facility is to make about 1,800 gallons of fuel per day, Long said.

There is only so much energy left in the manure after being digested by a cow, which limits the amount of gas available.

"But obviously there are other farms," Long said. "So the goal is that after we get the first farm going, it is to partner up with other sites that also have waste streams and create the multiplier effect by virtue of multiple sites."

Agra Energy has already hired three students out of the university, all of whom have worked on the pilot research and are now employees at the commercial site.


Anastasia Pirrami wrote this article for Great Lakes Echo.


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As the Sunshine State grapples with rising temperatures and escalating weather events such as hurricanes, a new study sheds light on the pivotal role of Florida's Wildlife Corridor in mitigating the effects of climate change coupled with a surge of new residents.

The report is trumpeted as a first-of-its-kind study showcasing how the 18 million acres of the Wildlife Corridor, which runs throughout the entire state, ease the worst impact of climate change. It paints a picture of investing in resources supporting cohabitation to be mutually beneficial with nature and the economic growth coming from people who flock to the state to enjoy it.

Colin Polsky, professor and founding director of the School of Environmental, Coastal and Ocean Sustainability at Florida Atlantic University, and the study's lead author, said the corridor benefits the state.

"It's an attempt to welcome the 1,000 people a day approximately who move to Florida, but to do so in a way that allows for the wildlife to continue to thrive," Polsky explained.

About 10 million of the 18 million acres of corridor are permanently conserved. The report calls on state leaders to keep working on investing the remaining 8 million. In March, the governor and Cabinet touted the state's largest investment in decades, a 25,000-acre acquisition within the Caloosahatchee-Big Cypress Corridor.

Joshua Daskin, project manager and director of conservation at the Archbold Biological Station, said since the corridor effort was steering billions of dollars toward land conservation in the state, the report's focus is on showing the science behind it all.

"Climate resilience is one area in which land conservation can help both nature and people," Daskin pointed out. "But no one had assembled the state of the science for all of the ways that climate resilience can be impacted by land conservation."

The report shows 24% of all Florida properties have a more than one in four chance of being affected by flooding in the next 30 years. To combat it, one solution is to keep floodplains undeveloped. The corridors have 10 million acres of floodplain. The report also recommends mixed-use development to minimize habitat fragmentation and keep working lands in production.


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Ballots are due back in the Montana Secretary of State's office later this week, as lawmakers decide
whether to override Gov. Greg Gianforte's veto of a high-profile funding bill that would reapportion money from the state's marijuana sales tax.

Gianforte vetoed Senate Bill 442 after the Montana Senate had adjourned last session, which left lawmakers no chance to override it.

It would fund veterans' services, provide permanent property tax relief for vets & Gold Star families, invest in county road maintenance, and support land conservation and habitat management.

Montana Wildlife Federation Executive Director Frank Szollosi said the legislation has received broad support inside and outside the capitol.

"That's why agricultural interests have supported 442," said Szollosi. "Counties have supported 442, and the conservation & sporting communities have supportted 442, and local governments."

Gianforte said in his veto note that using state funds for local responsibilities such as road improvements is a "slippery slope."

A veto override requires the approval of two-thirds of lawmakers. Ballots are due back in the Secretary of State's office on Thursday.

Twenty percent of the sales tax revenue would be used specifically for habitat conservation - but equally important, supporters say, is the money that would be spent to improve veterans' programs and rural infrastructure.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Mike Lang - R-Malta - said S.B. 442 would provide services for groups that have not historically shared common interests.

"I just want to bridge the gap," said Lang, "between recreationists and hunters, and private landowners."

Critics of SB 442 have argued the funding distribution formula isn't equitable, while supporters say it directs resources towards those who need them most.

The bill passed the Legislature with 130 of 150 votes in last year's session.

More than $11 million in federal grant money will go to improve land and water conservation in the upper Verde River Watershed and Big Chino Grasslands in north central Arizona.

The grant requires a 50% non-federal match, which The Nature Conservancy Arizona and partners will provide - bringing the total to $23 million.

Kimberly Schonek - Arizona water director for the conservancy - said the Verde River is one of the state's last free-flowing rivers, and calls it a "critical water supply" for not only the Phoenix metro area but for the biodiversity around the river, which starts just north of Prescott.

She said the conservancy in Arizona will be using the money to purchase easements from willing landowners to ensure land preservation and limit groundwater use.

"The landowner will continue to ranch and farm their property into the future," said Schonek, "but it'll restrict that ability for them to develop it, and what that does is keep the water use on the land what it is now."

Schonek said as Arizona thinks about its future, it's important to limit the amount of water use in what she calls a "critical area."

She added that her organization has been enacting conservation easements and other measures along the Verde River since 2012.

Schonek said no landowners are required to participate, but adds many find value in being compensated and reinvesting those funds onto their properties.

Schonek said over the last 20-years, with drought, they've noticed river levels drop - and have also seen land usage around the river change.

She added that while certain areas of the river have less flow, others are now experiencing more water due to the collaborative work the conservancy and agricultural partners have fostered.

"So the future looks good, so long as the community continues to engage, and everybody has a part to play," said Schonek. "And so we are really excited and optimistic to continue partnering with rural communities and agriculture in protecting this river for the future."

Schonek said it is exciting to see this level of investment as they've been working on conservation efforts for decades.

She added that this is by the far the largest amount of money that'll be dedicated to the Verde River.




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