Waste processing facility proposed for farm in southern Berks

It could provide vital income for a fourth-generation farm, but some Caernarvon Township residents and officials have questions about plans for a facility that would turn manure and food waste into renewable resources.

Plans for the waste processing facility, called an anaerobic digester, were introduced to township officials in 2023 by Kurtland Farms in partnership with Vanguard Renewables, a sustainable waste management firm based in Massachusetts.

Vanguard was acquired in 2022 by Blackrock Inc., a multinational investing company.

A lifeline

Jared Kurtz, owner of Kurtland Farms, said the partnership would diversify the farm’s revenue and offer the flexibility to withstand volatile milk prices and other issues impacting dairy farms.

“Our nation has lost 50 percent of the dairy farms from 10 years ago to today,” Kurtz told the Reading Eagle.

Kurtz noted that much of the land surrounding his own has seen increased development in recent years, including plans for large residential projects and the Hollywood Casino Morgantown.

“In our community, there’s a lot of land that’s disappearing,” Kurtz said at a meeting in 2023. “We’re looking for ways to maintain a farm that’s been in our family for 100 years.”

Jared Kurtz, owner of Kurtland Farms in Caernarvon Township, checks on his dairy herd in the robotic freestall barn. Kurtz is planning to install an anaerobic digester to process animal waste on his farm and to diversify the farm’s revenue to withstand issues impacting dairy farms, such as volatile milk prices. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

Kurtz said the digester would offer some environmental benefits over his current operation as well.

“Thinking environmentally, ways to capture and create energy that right now is being released out into the atmosphere,” Kurtz told the Reading Eagle.

The proposal would see Vanguard lease 10 acres from Kurtland Farms to build and operate the facility near Main Street and Conestoga Road.

Plans for the digester require land use approval from Caernarvon supervisors. The second leg of that hearing took place Dec. 4.

Earning land use approval does not guarantee the plans will receive final approval, though that decision will also fall to the township supervisors.

Township officials and residents have questioned the possibility of odors and potentially dangerous pollutants leaking from the site, as well as the facility’s impact on traffic.

“My main concern is going to be the air pollution and smell,” Jared Seiders, an Elverson resident who said he lives about a half-mile from Kurtland Farms, told the Reading Eagle.

Vanguard officials have noted that the unloading and processing of waste materials is done within an enclosed system that they say will prevent odors from escaping.

Anaerobic digester

Vanguard proposes hauling in food waste to be processed alongside manure from the farms, with an estimated 20 to 25 tanker trucks per day coming to and from the site.

The site would operate Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a half-day on Saturday, Vanguard officials said.

Officials said the company runs six anaerobic digesters in Massachusetts and Vermont.

At a hearing in November, Kurtz noted that the bulk of his revenue would still come from his dairy farm but didn’t provide specifics.

The digester would be owned and operated by Vanguard and staffed by three to six Vanguard employees at a time, representatives said.

It would process manure from the farm and food waste, sourced from large producers such as restaurants, grocery stores and food manufacturers, said Sarah Morrissey, development manager with Vanguard Renewables.

Those materials would be mixed within the digester, heated and broken down using natural bacteria to create biogas, which is purified into natural gas.

“Digesters basically operate as giant stomachs,” Morrissey said.

The leftovers from the gas creation process, or digestate, have uses as well, with the liquids serving as fertilizer and the solid digestate serving as bedding for cows.

Morrissey said the digestate has an earthy, dirt-like smell that is far less offensive than raw mature.

The digester facility would include a pump station that would receive food waste from tanker trucks, storage tanks where liquids can be discharged into two 1.5 million gallon digesters, and “lagoons” where the processed material is stored.

Gas would be removed from the site via pipeline or trucks.

Morrissey noted that anaerobic digester facilities are common on larger farms with a minimum of 3,000 cows, but Kurtland only has around 650 in total, so carting in the food waste would allow the proposed digester to meet production standards.

The freestall robotic barn houses the dairy herd at Kurtland Farms in Caernarvon Township. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

Officials have questions

Some officials said they were worried about foul smells permeating the surrounding residential area.

To contain the smells, food waste would be offloaded and processed in tanks and enclosed structures, with a pressurized filtration system intended to keep smells from escaping outside.

The lease length is 20 years, with the option for Kurtland Farms to renew it at the end of that period.

The farm property is in the township’s agricultural preservation zoning district.

A letter from the Berks County Agricultural Land Preservation Board reviewed the proposal for the digeste, and said the facility would be consistent with Kurtland Farms’ current use.

Some supervisors expressed concerns about the plans’ impact on traffic at the initial meeting in 2023.

Supervisor Keith Fritz said at that meeting that he was concerned with the plan for a driveway directly across from the Twin Valley Fire Department.

He worried that the driveway’s inclusion of a stop sign wouldn’t matter because it would be on private property and unenforceable by police.

“If a tractor-trailer doesn’t stop at that stop sign like he’s supposed to, that could be a real issue,” Fritz said.

He said he would rather see the driveway closer to the intersection of Main Street and Conestoga Road.

Vanguard representatives later said they analyzed traffic at the intersection and found that the driveway across from the fire department placed less of a burden on the roads. They said the driveway would give trucks enough room to turn right without crossing into the left lane.

Land use hearings

At hearings Nov. 20 and Dec. 4, 20 residents living near Kurtland Farms registered as a party to the proceedings, meaning they can participate in the hearing and appeal the ruling.

Greg Phillips, solicitor of the borough of Elverson, Chester County, sought to enter his borough as a party, but his entry was contested by Vanguard representatives.

“We have a right to protect our citizens from any smells or hazards … from (the digester),” Phillips said.

At the hearings, Vanguard representatives gave an overview of the facility’s operations and safety measures.

Michael Gill, solicitor with the Caernarvon Township Planning Commission, questioned Vanguard witnesses extensively.

Libby McDonald, project manager at Vanguard, said the site incorporates full-time monitoring of variables that can affect operations, like the tank’s temperature and pressure.

If a problem arises, alerts are sent instantly to site personnel who are on call at all times, McDonald said. If the digester falls out of compliance with permitting requirements, notifications are automatically sent to the permitting body, such as the state Department of Environmental Protection.

McDonald said trucks will bring in 135,000 gallons of liquid food waste per day to mix with manure and fill the digesters.

In response to Gill’s questions, McDonald said trucks could offload food waste before employees come to the site.

McDonald said Vanguard hasn’t had odor complaints at its other facilities and that Vanguard analyzes food waste to make sure it is safe for use.

Gill asked McDonald whether Vanguard has had issues with complaints or permit violations at its other facilities.

“We’ve had things, small scale, a truck spilling … that had to be reported to the state, but we’ve not had an odor complaint from that,” McDonald said.

Environmental violations

Environmental violations by Vanguard are detailed in documents from the Massachusetts Departments of Environmental Protection and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

The documents show violations occurred at all six sites with Vanguard’s food waste and manure digesters.

At multiple sites, Vanguard burned off a higher than allowed amount of hydrogen sulfide, according to the documents. Hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas that smells of rotten eggs, is part of the biogas that is created in the digester.

When burned, hydrogen sulfide releases pollutants like sulfur dioxide, which contributes to acid rain and can affect human health.

One facility in Haverhill, Mass., noted 52 violations related to burning excess hydrogen sulfide throughout 2021 and 2022, as well as a tear in the membrane of a digester in 2021, with biogas leaking into the environment.

For those and other violations in Haverhill, Vanguard was fined $78,000.

Another violation at Goodrich Family Farm in Salisbury, Vt., describes more than 25,000 gallons of digestate being spilled in the pump room and parking lot.

The spill lasted over two hours and infiltrated a stormwater drain leading to a wetland area. Vanguard was fined $4,500 in that case.

Violations at other sites detail failures to conduct a sound survey, keep adequate records and follow a monitoring schedule in compliance with plan approvals.

McDonald noted that Vanguard has developed an operation and maintenance plan and an odor control plan for its Kurtland Farm site.

Specifics for preventative maintenance will be provided as the plans are developed, Vanguard representatives said in response to Gill’s questions.

Because of the precautions Vanguard plans on enacting, McDonald said she didn’t believe the facility at Kurtland Farms would negatively impact public welfare or character of the neighborhood.

The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the township building.

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