Landfills nationwide now face new stands for methane gas emissions as set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As of last Friday, the final standards were released for new and modified municipal solid waste landfills and emission guidelines for existing ones.
The EPA’s goal is to reduce methane emissions by about 334,000 tons a year starting in 2025. So under its final rules, new, modified and existing landfills will begin capturing and controlling landfill gas emissions at levels that are a third lower than the existing requirements. The new rules, according to the EPA will update 20-yar old standards for existing landfills.
The EPA originally proposed the updated landfill methane rules in July 2014 and august 2015. The agency contends that climate benefits of the new combined rules will total $512 million in 2025 or more than $8 for every dollar spent to comply. It also describes methane as a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide.
The government says municipal solid waste landfills are the second-largest industrial source of methane emissions in the U.S. and accounted for 20 percent of methane emissions in 2014.
