Idaho Dairy Turns Cow Manure Into Clean Fuel for America

One of North America's largest dairy farms just became a powerhouse for clean energy, turning millions of gallons of cow manure into fuel that actually helps fight climate change.

Clean Energy Fuels opened a renewable natural gas facility at East Valley Cattle in Jerome, Idaho, where more than 35,000 cows produce waste that's now powering trucks instead of polluting the air. The site processes over 5 million gallons of manure daily through six massive anaerobic digesters.

Here's what makes this special: methane from cow manure is a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. When it sits in lagoons or fields, it escapes into the atmosphere and warms the planet.

This facility captures that methane before it can escape, cleans it up, and injects it directly into the interstate pipeline system. Trucks and transport fleets across the country can now fuel up with this renewable gas instead of diesel or fossil natural gas.

"We're capturing methane, cleaning it up and injecting it on-site while replacing natural gas that would have been of fossil origin," said Will Flanagan, Clean Energy's Vice President of Strategic Development. "It's a double offset renewable energy."

The facility doesn't just capture emissions. It turns waste into resources the farm can use again. Byproducts from the gas production process become livestock bedding and fertilizer, creating a circular system where nothing goes to waste.

The Ripple Effect

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board have both certified this facility, allowing it to generate environmental credits for its emissions reductions. Because the gas prevents methane from entering the atmosphere while replacing fossil fuels, it's classified as having negative carbon intensity, meaning it actually removes more emissions than it creates.

Developed through a partnership with energy giant bp, the project shows how clean fuel technology can work at massive scale using infrastructure that already exists. No need to build entirely new systems when the interstate pipeline network already reaches transport fleets nationwide.

The facility proves that some of America's biggest agricultural operations can become clean energy producers without abandoning their core business. East Valley Cattle continues running one of the continent's largest dairy operations while simultaneously powering the transition away from fossil fuels.

Other dairy farms across the country are watching this model closely as they look for ways to reduce their environmental footprint and create new revenue streams from waste that once had no value.

America's cows just became part of the climate solution.