Charleston Leader

In a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee hearing titled, "Avoiding, Detecting, and Capturing Methane Emissions from Landfills," Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) discussed the challenges and opportunities for landfills to reduce methane emissions. The hearing addressed the concerns of both municipal and private landfills.

During the hearing, Capito inquired about the breakdown of municipal and private landfills. Anne Germain, representing the National Waste & Recycling Association, responded, "It's about 50-50. So, Tom said that there's about 1,200 landfills in the country. About half of them are publicly owned and about half of them are privately owned." Germain further explained that while the number of landfills is split evenly, the volume of waste going into the landfills differs. "About two-thirds of the waste goes to privately owned landfills, and about a third goes to public landfills," she added.

Capito also raised concerns about the impact of methane regulations on small municipal landfills. She asked Germain, "What kind of challenges would that [compliance] bring to a small municipal landfill? Are they already doing it if they are complying with the EPA regulations, which I'm sure they would want to do." Germain explained that smaller landfills may not be subject to the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) due to size limitations. Changing the rules to extend to smaller landfills would require them to comply with control and capture requirements that they may not currently be implementing.

The economic incentives and regulatory obstacles in capturing and selling methane for energy and industrial use were also discussed. Capito questioned Germain, asking if there is an economic incentive in capturing and selling methane and what the regulatory obstacles are. Germain responded, "It's very much dependent on the type of facility. So if you have right now, the Section 48 tax credits that I referred to in the RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard) do provide some incentives for capturing outside of the regulation." She further explained that the ability to utilize the gas for energy varies depending on the landfill's location. However, many landfills do not have the necessary equipment to upgrade the gas to pipeline quality, which is a requirement under current tax credit regulations.

The hearing highlighted the challenges faced by both municipal and private landfills in reducing methane emissions. The discussion shed light on the size disparity between publicly owned and privately owned landfills and the potential impact of methane regulations on smaller landfills. It also emphasized the economic incentives and regulatory obstacles in capturing and utilizing methane for energy and industrial purposes.