A major renewable natural gas facility built at a large dairy operation in Jerome County is now commercially active, marking the completion of a project that company officials describe as among the most technically complex of its kind on the continent.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has finished construction of its eighth dairy-based renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility, located at East Valley Cattle in Jerome, Idaho. The site is home to more than 35,000 head of cattle, making the scale of both the agricultural operation and the accompanying gas infrastructure extraordinary by industry standards.
How the Facility Works
At the heart of the operation are six anaerobic digesters that collectively process in excess of five million gallons of manure each day. That biological material, which would otherwise release methane directly into the atmosphere, is instead captured, refined, and injected into an interstate natural gas pipeline as a transportation fuel. The facility also employs a municipality-scale wastewater treatment system and advanced manure separation technology to manage the sheer volume of material generated by the herd.
Processing byproducts from the system do not go to waste. Residual solids are repurposed on-site, serving as both livestock bedding and fertilizer for nearby cropland — a feature that underscores the integrated nature of the operation within the broader agricultural economy of the Magic Valley region.
Will Flanagan, Vice President of Strategic Development at Clean Energy, said the project stands apart from what the company has built before. “This is probably the most ambitious project we’ve taken on — the scale, the technology, and the integration of systems are unmatched and quite frankly, extremely impressive,” Flanagan said.
He also emphasized the climate rationale behind the investment. “We’re capturing methane, cleaning it up and injecting it on-site while replacing natural gas that would have been of fossil origin,” Flanagan said. The displacement of conventional fossil-fuel-based gas is central to the project’s regulatory and financial structure.
Regulatory Approvals and Financing
The facility has secured two key regulatory approvals that allow it to generate revenue through environmental credit markets. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has authorized the project to produce Renewable Identification Numbers under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard program, and the California Air Resources Board has approved it to generate credits under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program. Those credits can be sold to fuel producers and others seeking to meet clean fuel requirements, providing an ongoing revenue stream.
The project was financed through CE bp Renew Co, a joint venture between Clean Energy and global energy company bp. The partnership reported its first revenue from the facility during the first quarter of 2026, signaling that the operation has moved from construction into full commercial production.
Agriculture accounts for roughly 10 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions according to EPA estimates, while transportation — the sector this fuel primarily serves — represents approximately 28 percent. Proponents of dairy RNG projects argue that converting manure methane into vehicle fuel addresses both sides of that equation simultaneously, reducing emissions from farms while substituting cleaner fuel in the transportation sector.
What Comes Next
The Jerome facility represents Clean Energy Fuels’ eighth such dairy RNG installation, reflecting a broader push by the company to scale up agricultural gas capture across the United States. With regulatory credits now in place and commercial revenue flowing, the East Valley Cattle project is expected to serve as a model for future facilities.
Jerome County’s dairy industry is among the most productive in Idaho, and projects like this one reflect the ongoing diversification of how agricultural operations generate revenue beyond traditional commodity sales. For local landowners and operators watching energy costs, the intersection of farming and fuel production is worth tracking — as is how Idaho’s broader energy landscape continues to shift. For more on local business development in the region, see recent coverage of new businesses joining the Twin Falls food hub and current Idaho fuel price trends.