USDA Rural Development to present grant to King County for renewable energy project

USDA Rural Development will award the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks with a $93,990 Rural Business Enterprise Grant on Friday to be used for the county's Enumclaw Manure Management Project.

Jackie Gleason, USDA Rural Development Business and Cooperative Programs Administrator from Washington D.C., will be on hand to present the check to King County representatives. The event is set Friday, Oct. 20, 2 p.m. at the Enumclaw Public Library, 1700 First St., Enumclaw.

The grant money will be used to address the technical challenges of developing and building a system to collect and process the tens of thousands of gallons of manure that dairy cows produce each day on the Enumclaw Plateau and convert it into energy.

“We are elated to receive this grant funding from USDA because it is right on track with our rural economic development and renewable energy goals,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. "We believe we can make significant progress ensuring the future of family dairies in King County with this project by reducing nutrients, reducing odor, creating electricity and safeguarding water quality.”

Rural Business Enterprise Grants help public bodies, non-profit corporations, and federally recognized Indian tribal groups to finance and facilitate development of small and emerging private business enterprises located in rural areas and cities of 50,000 people or less.

The grant funds awarded to King County will be utilized for technical assistance to identify which anaerobic digester technology is most appropriate for the Enumclaw Plateau, identify the most appropriate site(s), aggregate supply of waste from the dairy, etc. 

King County will contract with Energy Northwest, Washington State University, King County Conservation District and Natural Resource and Conservation Service in conducting these studies. Eighteen of 28 dairy farmers on the plateau have signed preliminary letters of commitment to be involved in the project. 

Following the grant presentation, Gleason will sit in on a round table discussion with area farmers to discuss USDA Rural Development's Renewable Energy program and to provide highlights from the “Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance” conference held in St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 10-12.

The conference was jointly hosted by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and brought together key stakeholders in biofuels, wind and solar energy.  DOE and USDA lead the federal effort on research, development and commercialization of new energy sources.

Developing renewable energy sources is nothing new for King County. It is a national leader among local governments in purchasing electricity from renewable sources, developing the biodiesel market, using biodiesel in its fleets, developing a hydrogen fuel cell at the Renton Wastewater Treatment Plan and in harnessing energy from wastewater treatment.

During Gleason's three-day visit to Washington State (Oct. 18-20), USDA Rural Development will award a total of $5.7 million in loans and grants for a variety of projects located in Clallam, Mason, Pierce, and King counties.

USDA Rural Development's mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life in rural communities. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development has invested over $72 billion since the beginning of the Bush Administration to provide equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. Over 1.2 million jobs have been created or saved through these investments. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA's Web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov\wa.