U.S. Senate hearing shows EPA should not delay on updating landfill regulations
Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing, “Avoiding, Detecting, and Capturing Methane Emissions from Landfills.” The hearing was an important look into the methods and technologies that can be used to reduce methane and other harmful pollution from new and existing municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, and comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s August 2024 statutory deadline to reassess its standards approaches.
“As the third largest source of human-caused methane emissions in the country, it is critical that EPA revises its new and existing source landfill regulations,” said Darin Schroeder, Methane Legal and Regulatory Director at CATF. “Advances in mitigation technology and best practices for this sector have outpaced existing standards, as evidenced by requirements in leading states like California, Oregon, and Maryland. Reducing methane is the best tool we have to bend the climate curve, and EPA should act without delay to update their standards.”
EPA’s current standards for new and existing MSW landfills were most recently updated in August 2016. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review New Source Performance Standards every eight years and to revise them if deemed appropriate by the agency, meaning the agency must begin a rulemaking process no later than August 2024.
Methane is a harmful super pollutant with a climate warming potential more than 80 times that of carbon dioxide over its first 20 years in the atmosphere. Reducing methane pollution is the best way to reduce the amount of global warming we’ll experience in the next 20 to 30 years, a critical timeframe for avoiding passing irreversible climate tipping points. The most recent inventory in the U.S. shows that in 2021 U.S. landfills emitted approximately 3.7 million metric tons of this powerful greenhouse gas.
Contatto con la stampa
Steve Reyes, responsabile delle comunicazioni, [email protected], +1 562-916-6463
Circa Clean Air Task Force
Clean Air Task Force (CATF) è un'organizzazione globale senza scopo di lucro che lavora per salvaguardarsi dai peggiori impatti del cambiamento climatico catalizzando il rapido sviluppo e la diffusione di energia a basso contenuto di carbonio e di altre tecnologie per la protezione del clima. Con 25 anni di esperienza riconosciuta a livello internazionale in materia di politica climatica e un forte impegno nell'esplorare tutte le potenziali soluzioni, CATF è un gruppo di advocacy pragmatico e non ideologico con le idee coraggiose necessarie per affrontare il cambiamento climatico. CATF ha uffici a Boston, Washington D.C. e Bruxelles, con personale che lavora virtualmente in tutto il mondo. Visitate catf.us e seguite @cleanaircatf.
