The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued two enforcement alerts to address regulatory requirements and compliance issues at municipal solid waste landfills (MSW landfills). These alerts focus on the Clean Air Act requirements that control the release of landfill gases, particularly methane, a significant climate pollutant.
The first alert, titled “EPA Investigations Find Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Operators are Failing to Properly Conduct Compliant Monitoring and Maintenance of Gas Collection and Control System,” aims to remind MSW landfill owners and operators to conduct routine monitoring and maintenance of gas collection systems. This ensures that all landfill emissions are properly captured and controlled.
The second alert, “MSW Landfill Operators Fail to Include Wastes from Total Degradable Waste-in-Place and Properly Sample Landfill Gas, Resulting in Underreported Emissions,” emphasizes the need for accurate identification and documentation of nondegradable wastes in calculations. It also stresses the importance of collecting representative landfill gas samples for analysis.
“After the hottest summer on record, the need to limit climate change is more critical than ever before,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance David M. Uhlmann. “Landfills are the third largest source of methane, a climate super pollutant that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfill owners and operators must meet their legal obligations to control methane emissions that contribute to global climate change—and EPA will hold them accountable if they fail to do so.”
In 2022, methane releases accounted for approximately 14.4 percent of total emissions. This is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from over 24 million gasoline-powered vehicles driven for one year or the carbon dioxide emissions from more than 13.1 million homes’ energy use for one year.
Methane is both a powerful greenhouse gas and short-lived compared to carbon dioxide; thus, reducing its emissions can have a rapid impact on mitigating climate change. Additionally, capturing methane from MSW landfills represents an opportunity to utilize a significant energy resource.
In August 2023, EPA announced its first-ever climate enforcement initiative – Mitigating Climate Change – as part of six National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECIs) for fiscal years 2024-2027. This initiative focuses on reducing emissions of high-impact pollutants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and methane by ensuring greater compliance with environmental laws at oil and gas facilities as well as landfills.
Following this initiative, EPA released its “Climate Enforcement and Compliance Strategy” on Sept. 28, 2023. The strategy mandates rigorous enforcement of EPA’s climate rules including greenhouse gas reporting requirements and limits on other pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. It also acknowledges that certain communities already burdened by environmental stressors are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts.
The alerts also highlight previous EPA enforcement actions related to noncompliance with Clean Air Act requirements. For instance:
In January 2024 Allied Waste reached a settlement agreement with the EPA regarding violations at their Niagara Falls Landfill in New York which led to excess landfill gas emissions being released into the atmosphere. Violations included improper exclusion of areas containing industrial debris and failure to timely install a gas collection system.
Under this settlement Allied Waste agreed to operate a gas collection system aimed at reducing harmful chemicals including methane released into air while paying $671000 penalty eliminating about 86000 metric tons CO2 equivalent methane annually.
More information can be found on EPA’s Basic Information about Landfill Gas webpage.
