Massive Manure-to-Energy Project Raises Environmental Justice Concerns in Washington State

On March 25, residents of Sunnyside, Washington traveled roughly 35 miles to speak at a public hearing in Yakima, Washington about a manure-to-energy project they said could reshape their daily lives. At the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency, they approached the microphone one by one, some speaking in Spanish, and asked regulators to stop or delay the construction of a facility that would turn cattle manure into renewable natural gas. If their appeal didn’t work, the 50-acre project could become one of the largest of such manure-processing facilities in the United States. The local community and environmental advocates are worried the site will increase local pollution and risk community safety.

Josefina Luciano, who has lived in Sunnyside for 24 years and works on a dairy farm, said she only became aware of the project recently, even though some of the public learned of it about five years ago. “That’s why I’m taking action now,” she told officials in Spanish. Of the dozens who spoke, only two — a local official who described the project as “win-win” and a representative of the project developer — voiced support.

“The main question I have on my mind is who is really getting benefits from this biodigester and who is paying any consequences or issues with this project?” Luciano asked. “In my opinion, it is my community that will be affected by this.”

The proposed facility, a project by Oregon-based Pacific Ag Renewables, would digest and process crop waste and dairy manure from nearby farms to make renewable natural gas. In its current design, the project would produce about 650,000 mmBtu of energy, with plans to scale up to as much as 1.8 million mmBtu in the future if other agricultural waste streams are added, says Harrison Pettit, Pacific Ag’s chief development officer. He adds that the natural gas produced will heat 12,000 homes a year.

The project’s proponents frame it as an environmental and climate solution: It reduces odors and emissions by capturing methane — a potent greenhouse gas — from animal waste that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. But some researchers caution that digesters can increase ammonia and other pollutants, and methane leaks may limit their overall climate benefits.

The facility is projected to employ 30 full-time staff and generate up to $6 million in local economic activity and tax revenue.

The project has already cleared the State Environmental Policy Act evaluation process and the city of Sunnyside determined that it is unlikely to have adverse environmental impacts. It is now awaiting final approval of an air permit.

But in Sunnyside — where more than 80% of residents are Hispanic, many of them farmworkers and immigrants — opposition is strong. For many, the project is an expansion of an industry they say has long polluted their air and water.

“This is a community that has historic and ongoing trauma from the impacts of industrial animal agriculture,” Kingsly McConnell, a resident of Yakima and staff attorney at the Center for Food Safety, tells Sentient. He points to complaints of manure lagoons contaminating groundwater in the valley. “This biodigester risks further entrenching those factory farms in the harmful lagoon waste system in their community,” which could risk both their air quality and drinking water, he says.

Environmental Burdens in Yakima Valley

The lower Yakima Valley, where Sunnyside is located, is a major agricultural hub that produces apples, grapes and hops. It is also home to a dense concentration of large dairy operations, many of which moved to the region in the 1970s and 1980s after neighboring California introduced stricter regulations.

“We have a third of all Washington dairy cows in a 270-square-mile area in Yakima County. That’s just too many cows in too small an area,” Jean Mendoza, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Friends of Toppenish Creek and a resident of White Swan on the Yakima Indian Reservation, tells Sentient.

The result, she and others say, has been chronic pollution — from headache-inducing odors to nonpotable drinking water to declining air quality.

In Lower Yakima Valley, waste from large dairy farms has polluted drinking water with nitrates. This happens when farmers spread too much manure on fields or it leaks from lagoons, seeping into groundwater and nearby waterways that are used for drinking water. High nitrate levels in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome in infants and are also linked to cancer and thyroid disease.

Air pollution is also a major concern. People living in East Yakima and Lower Yakima Valley face some of the highest health risks in Washington from fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. Research shows that PM2.5 levels are higher in areas with concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) than in similar regions without CAFOs. Exposure to these particles is associated with serious health problems including asthma, heart disease and cancer. In 2025, the American Lung Association identified the Yakima metropolitan area as the “eighth most polluted” in the United States for short-term particle pollution.

The biodigester project could also create what McConnell calls “perverse incentives” that encourage factory farms in the area to expand in order to produce more manure that they can sell to the renewable natural gas facility, potentially worsening the environmental harms residents are already facing.

The proposed 50-acre facility would be built in the Port of Sunnyside Industrial Park, within two miles of hundreds of homes, businesses, a daycare and an assisted living center. In addition to pollution, residents at the hearing raised concerns about increased truck traffic and the risks of spills or leaks from the large volumes of waste the plant would handle. Some also cited safety risks like the potential for fires or explosions. Pettit responds that the impact on traffic would be minimal, considering that the project will replace open-air manure trucks with sealed tankers for safer transport.

“I’m very worried, especially about the children,” Lorena Avalos, who lives about a mile and a half from the proposed site, said at the hearing in Spanish. She noted that children regularly walk in the area. “Please listen to us and don’t ignore us.”

Transparency Concerns

At the hearing, attendees also expressed concern about the lack of transparency and meaningful evaluation process for the digester.

Sunnyside Mayor Vicky Frausto, speaking in an individual capacity, said many residents — especially those who only speak Spanish — were not adequately informed about Pacific Ag’s plans. She recalled knocking on doors near the proposed site in 2023 and finding that none of the residents she spoke with knew about the project.

“That is not transparency. That is systemic exclusion rooted in a pattern where communities of color are left out of decision-making,” Frausto said.

Project representatives dispute that characterization. Kipp Curtis, project manager for the Sunnyside facility, said the company has followed all regulatory requirements and conducted outreach, including five meetings with the community.

In a separate email, Pettit says that Pacific Ag is “very pleased with the community’s response to the project” and adds that the company’s published materials and website are in both Spanish and English. “This is certainly a reflection of our desire to communicate effectively with the community of Sunnyside, but it is an established practice at Pacific Ag since we are a majority Spanish-speaking company,” he says.

But outreach efforts have fallen short of what a project of this scale demands, contended Maricela Santana, the environmental justice coordinator for Empowering Latina Leadership and Action, who grew up in Sunnyside. “Five meetings in five years is completely disappointing, and you should not be waiting for the community to invite you,” she said at the hearing.

Push for a Full Environmental Review

Securing an air permit would be a critical step in advancing the biodigester project. The Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency has already issued a draft order of approval, followed by a public comment period that ended on March 30. It has not yet issued a final decision.

Elizel Reynoso, a permitting supervisor with the Clean Air Agency, said in the hearing that because the project’s potential pollutant emissions are below regulatory thresholds, it is classified as a “minor source.” This means the project doesn’t need to install the best available control technology for emissions limitation, which major sources are required to do, but Reynoso said that it must still meet state and federal emission standards.

But critics argue that the draft air permit is inadequate because it underestimates or relies on outdated or inaccurate data for emissions sources including covered lagoons, methane leaks and vehicle exhaust. They say that if these were accurately included in the permit application, the project would qualify as a “major source” of pollution.

They are calling for the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency to deny the permit and for the project to undergo the full environmental impact statement process under the State Environmental Policy Act.

“You cannot build an operation this large and not have an impact,” Mendoza says.