LITCHFIELD — The
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
is inviting public comment through July 10 on the environmental assessment worksheet for a proposed anaerobic digestion facility in Forest City Township.

Roughly seven miles northeast of Litchfield, the two anaerobic digesters, storage buildings and other infrastructure will be built by Vanguard Organics LLC on a leased area on the Wagner Dairy Farm, according to a news release from the agency.

The facility is projected to process up to 115,000 tons of organic waste per year — manure from the dairy farm and food waste from other sources — and convert the wastes into renewable natural gas. Construction is set to begin later this summer and last until spring or summer of 2026.

The facility has plans to implement an odor control system and plans to ship liquid digestate off-site periodically, according to the environmental assessment worksheet. When operational, the facility is expected to employ five to seven full-time workers.

The MPCA in the announcement noted other key findings that include the following:

• The project will use 606,265 gallons of groundwater annually with the potential for using 1.5 million gallons.
• The project will produce organic fertilizer and biosolids that will be used by Wagner Dairy or other local farms for use as animal bedding, topsoil, etc., on a continuous basis.
• The project will produce renewable natural gas that will be compressed and sent to a pipeline (to be constructed) at the proposed gas interface station. This pipeline is not currently available for review.
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFAS, may be present in materials received by the facility. The processes at the facility do not add PFAS to the end products.

The environmental assessment worksheet prepared by the MPCA, with information provided by the proposer, is not a decision and does not determine whether the project moves forward. The 48-page report lays out a project description and considers environmental impacts including greenhouse gas emissions, contamination and wildlife risk, sound and smell, soil and water effects and more.

To view the
environmental assessment worksheet
or to submit a comment, go to
mpca.commentinput.com/comment
and filter the search by Meeker County or by environmental review to find the Litchfield AD1 Facility page. Follow the links there to review the documents or to submit a comment.

People may also mail comments to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, c/o Audrey Maass, 520 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155.

In a review, the public should consider the environmental assessment worksheet’s accuracy, potential impacts from the project that warrant further investigation, or the need for an environmental impact statement, according to the news release.