California Dairy's Manure-to-Hydrogen Venture Sets Record, Sparks Debate

A dairy farm in California's San Joaquin Valley is using biogas from cow manure to produce hydrogen fuel, earning the lowest carbon-intensity rating ever assigned by the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The project, operated by H2B2, is the first of its kind in the state. Environmentalists argue that the climate benefits ignore ongoing water and air pollution from the dairy's waste lagoons.

The Bar 20 project pairs a covered lagoon anaerobic digester with H2B2's electrolysis technology, which converts captured biogas into hydrogen for transportation fuel. California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, administered by the Air Resources Board, assigned the venture its lowest carbon-intensity score ever, marking the first biogas-to-hydrogen operation of its kind in the state. Regulators approved the project in July.

The development occurs amid broader tensions over California's biogas incentives. More than 165 digesters operate across the state's 1,000-plus concentrated animal feeding operations, with critics arguing these systems encourage herd expansion and worsen nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonia contamination in local waterways. CARB maintains that digesters have not accelerated herd growth and notes that LCFS has displaced over 31 billion gallons of fossil fuels since its inception.