Letter: Proposed Digester Permit Filled With Flaws

To The Editor:
This month, our state environmental agency, EGLE, held a public hearing for a groundwater discharge permit for the Fremont Digester. The food waste/manure digester is in Fremont, but the tens of millions of gallons of wastewater (aka digestate) created in the production of biogas is being spread on thousands of acres of farmland in our area – thus the need for the new groundwater discharge permit. The facility is closed at present but the spread of their lagoon-stored digestate continues.  Generate, who owns the digester, is selling it. If the permit goes with the sale, shame on EGLE. The Generate input list of their inputs included:  poultry and dairy processing “byproduct” (Google : Everything But the Cluck for the not so pretty list of “byproducts”: everything from feathers and bones to excrement and blood ), biofuel production wastes (according to EGLE can contain everything from spent biofuel inputs as well as water softener discharge water and sanitary bathroom waste from the biofuel facility), fruit and veg scraps and depackaged foods (adds more microplastics and PFAs) , and manure. The inputs under a new owner may change drastically, for better or for worse. The permit should not be issued until the sale occurs and the new owner submits their own application, providing their own info and credentials. Just as a pilot’s license does not go with the sale of a used plane, a permit for a biogas production digester should not go with the sale. 

The proposed permit is riddled with flaws – everything from incomplete (yet accepted by EGLE) missing information in the application which go against Michigan legal regulations, to allowances to the permit holder to gradually reduce toxic substances in the digestate to “safe” levels. The time frame allowed by the permit to reduce these toxins? Up to 5 years, all the while, the wastewater/digestate would be allowed to be spread on fields and near area wells. EGLE’s own geologist has indicated some of the wells where it has been spread over the past 5 years are at very high risk of contamination, yet the spread continues. This is an outrage. 

EGLE chose to edit out the applause in their taped version of the public hearing. Andy O’Riley of O’Riley Media Group filmed the hearing. Do a Google search for his video on You Tube:  “Fremont Digester Unbranded”. The hearing has three parts: an introduction by EGLE with permit information, a Q and A period, and then the public statement period. It was telling that Generate did not send any representatives to speak. I was utterly gobsmacked by the speakers and so proud of people from our community and those from out of area. All spoke with a tremendous amount of truthfulness and emotion, passion and facts. 
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The public statement period was extended until December 4th. Indicate your statement pertains to GW1810296, Generate Fremont Digester LLC. 
Statements can be submitted to EGLE through their MIEnviro portal or be sent to Alissa Yanochko, Project Coordinator, [email protected] 

Kathy Morrison
Fremont, MI

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