On November 20, the Air Resources Board (ARB) considered and “approved” updates to the state’s Landfill Methane Regulation, which seeks to reduce landfill emissions and enable to earlier detection and mitigation of subsurface temperature events.
At the hearing, RCRC noted its support for the Board’s goals in the interest of protecting our residents and communities. RCRC also expressed concern with several of the provisions that pose implementation challenges and/or create monitoring and reporting requirements that far outweigh benefits.
While ARB “approved” the regulation, it sent the proposal back to staff to make a number of revisions to address concerns raised by local governments, the solid waste industry, and other stakeholders. In particular, ARB directed staff to reconsider the regulatory timelines; provide additional flexibility for operators to address unique facility characteristics; to clarify that limits on system downtime do not include circumstances outside of the operator’s control (like power disruptions); and address other implementation issues.
The text of the proposed regulation can be found here, and ARB’s presentation can be found here.
RCRC joined a broad industry and local government coalition letter and also submitted its own comment letter focusing on more granular policy and implementation challenges, which can be found here.
RCRC will continue to engage with ARB staff to refine the proposed regulation. Any changes to the proposed regulation will be released for another 15-day comment period.
For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.