Senate committee hears testimony on $10 million grant request to expand Herd Farms wastewater treatment

The Senate Committee on Energy and Environment on March 12 held a public hearing on Senate Bill 956, which would appropriate $10,000,000 from the general fund to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services for a grant to Herd Farms to expand wastewater-treatment infrastructure.

Supporters told the committee Herd Farms operates specialized treatment and land-application services that municipal treatment plants generally cannot process and that expanding the private facility could avoid tens of millions of dollars in municipal upgrades. "We are at our absolute maximum capacity right now and we need to do something right away to relieve the pressure," said Richard Herd, owner of Herd Farms, describing the company's current workloads and planned upgrades.

Why it matters: Herd Farms' Roseburg facility currently accepts septage, municipal biosolids, grease trap waste and other high-strength wastes from roughly 20 cities and multiple…