Obama's Climate Action Plan: Next Step, Landfill Methane

Having gotten the Clean Power Plan out the door, EPA has moved on to another target of President Obama's Climate Action Plan: landfill methane emissions. Late last week, EPA proposed both new emission guidelines for existing landfills and a supplemental proposal to modify the new source performance standards for new or modified landfills. The landfill rule is a somewhat easier lift than the Clean Power Plan.

Under EPA's proposal, the trigger for installing a landfill gas collection/control system at existing facilities would decrease from 50 metric tons/year to 34 metric tons/year. EPA would define the best system of emission reductions as being a well-operated collection/control system. Landfill owners may also use an alternative, site-specific approach to determining applicability. Under the site-specific approach, landfills would avoid the collection/control requirement if methane emissions are below 500 ppm for four consecutive quarters.