Sunnyside OKs agreement to build biomethane plant at port
Sunnyside’s City Council has approved an agreement with the Port of Sunnyside and Pacific Ag to construct infrastructure for a new renewable natural gas plant near Sunnyside on Mabton Road.
The plant will produce renewable natural gas, or biomethane. Pacific Ag, based in Oregon, uses crop residue and dairy manure from growers to produce biomethane, and will build the facility, according to information from the company and the city.
The plant will produce 800,000 million British thermal units of renewable natural gas each year, according to Pacific Ag’s website. That amount of energy would be roughly equivalent to more than 140,000 barrels of oil.
The city and the port will finance construction of sewer pipelines, water mains and a roadway, as well as other infrastructure, which will make the site accessible for future industrial development beyond Pacific Ag, City Manager Elizabeth Alba said during a meeting Monday.
The infrastructure project will cost just over $12 million. Sunnyside will be responsible for just over half those funds.
“The benefits are going to be huge for us. This is an investment, not only in Pacific Ag in there, but it’s an investment in Sunnyside’s future,” Alba said.
Alba said the project has received $8 million in funding Yakima County’s Supporting Investment in Economic Development and Washington’s Community Economic Revitalization Board. About $1.9 million of those funds will be loaned from CERB to the port, while the city will be responsible for a loan of about $2.4 million.
The rest of the funds for the project will come from the sale of the property to Pacific Ag, a grant from the city and in-house cash from the city and the port. The city is bound to the agreement if the Port of Sunnyside completes the property sale within six months.
The new Pacific Ag facility would be west of Sunnyside Mabton Road, south of Alexander Road and east of McLean Road. Renewable natural gas, also known as biomethane, would be produced from agricultural waste using anaerobic digestion.
Biomethane can be used interchangeably with other natural gas products as a fuel. Burning it produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, but reusing agricultural waste as fuel has benefits. Agricultural waste can produce methane, another greenhouse gas, when decomposing, or be a pollutant.
The anaerobic digester also will produce organic matter which can be used as fertilizer or compost, the company said.
Alba added the project could bring 65 jobs to Sunnyside at the facility. City council members hope the infrastructure will lead to more development and employment. Alba said that might include middle-income housing.
“Once we get the infrastructure in place, it makes all that land available,” said Sunnyside Mayor Dean Broersma. “That leads to more than the 65-job-potential that would work at Pacific Ag, but also all the jobs that would come along with any other projects as well.”
Sunnyside City Council also approved the 2023 budget and discussed holiday festivities for the upcoming week, including a tree lighting on Dec. 1 and a downtown market, vintage toy display and the lighted farm implement parade on Dec. 3.