At Tony Goltstein’s dairy farm in Indiana, a pool collecting cow manure has developed gas bubbles — some the size of small houses that can be seen from satellite photos — according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
A single dairy cow produces about 148 pounds of manure a day, or about 54,000 pounds a year. There are federal and state regulations for maintenance of the gigantic pools, which are intended to safely store manure until it is sprayed on fields as fertilizer. Goltstein bought a $150,000 plastic liner for his pool, similar to the kind used in landfills. But the liner detached from the bottom of the pool, allowing bubbles of methane and other gases to form and threatening to unleash a river of manure.
Neighboring farmers are concerned about what the potential manure flood would do to groundwater and their quality of life. The state has fined Goltstein about $2,000 for failing to properly maintain his lagoon of waste. He filed for bankruptcy last month and said the needed repairs would cost him $200,000 — money he does not have. Neighbors have called on the state to require dairy farmers to pay into a fund that would take care of the waste on their farms when problems arise. Gov. Mitch Daniels said the state is already able to handle these rare occasions.
Goltstein is proposing his own solution: He and his son would paddle out to the bubbles and puncture them with a pocketknife. It is not clear whether that is a good idea.
Read more about Goltstein’s waste woes in the Wall Street Journal.
A word to Goltstein: definitely a good idea. Update with pics please.