Dive Brief:
- A group of senators is urging the Senate's Environment & Public Works Committee to allocate additional funding to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for landfill methane emissions monitoring, enforcement and reduction strategies.
- Senators propose the funding would be split, with more than $6.7 million disbursed to states for “satellites, aircraft, and other advanced technologies to detect methane emissions at [municipal solid waste] landfills.” An additional $5 million would go to local governments that own MSW landfills to develop methane reduction plans.
- The May 13 letter, signed by nine senators, came after a hearing in January where waste industry members and climate advocates urged action on landfill methane. The senators hope the funding will be set aside in the fiscal year 2025 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill.
Dive Insight:
The federal government has placed a growing level of importance on the need to capture fugitive emissions from landfill due to the potent nature of the methane that's released. Last fall, the EPA announced it was focusing on enforcement of landfill emission regulations governed by its New Source Performance Standards. And in 2021, the EPA finalized a rule first proposed by the Obama administration that tightened emissions requirements for about 1,590 landfills.
While those actions have put a spotlight on landfill operators, many argue they do not go far enough in addressing methane, which is about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
At the hearing on Jan. 31, Carbon Mapper Research Scientist Tia Scarpelli said the federal government should offer more support for advanced technology, like her organization's satellite-based monitoring system, to track and address fugitive emissions from landfills. Other witnesses urged increased investment in organics diversion and on-the-ground solutions like automated well tuning.
Nine senators signed the letter, including Tom Carper, D-Del., who chairs the Environment & Public Works Committee. They sent it to Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who are the chair and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies for the Senate Appropriations Committee, respectively.
In their letter, the senators noted that the EPA is also scheduled to update the NSPS and Emissions Guidelines for MSW landfills in the fall. They said their request was timely in light of that deadline and argued the EPA needed additional resources to meet its commitments to cut methane emissions.
“Stronger EPA regulations for landfill emissions are critical to slash planet-warming methane emissions, advance environmental justice, and achieve our climate commitments,” the signatories wrote. “Federal funding for states to utilize advanced monitoring technology to detect large emissions at MSW landfills and support the necessary improvements to fix and prevent methane leaks will accelerate critical, near-term methane reductions as EPA kicks off the rulemaking process.”
Murkowski's office did not respond to a request for comment on the letter. Merkley's office did not address the letter’s requests directly in response to a request for comment. In an emailed statement, Merkley’s Deputy Communications Director Justin Krakoff said the senator is “committed to writing an FY25 funding bill that can be enacted into law and continues to include necessary resources to address methane pollution, such as robust federal funding for the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program and Landfill Emissions Research.”
“Senator Merkley believes tackling methane emissions is essential to meeting America’s climate goals. As Chair of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, he has pushed for investments to combat the dangerous environmental and health impacts of methane,” the statement read.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is in the process of reviewing President Joe Biden's funding requests for various agencies. The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies subcommittee has not yet scheduled a hearing to discuss EPA funding.
The signatories were Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Carper.
