EPA Cracks Down on Landfill Emissions

Moving to curtail noxious emissions that contribute to urban smog and global warming, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced new regulations intended to significantly reduce airborne pollutants emanating from solid waste landfills.

The rules, which require landfills to trap gases that otherwise would escape into the atmosphere, represent “the strongest action ever taken to reduce air pollution from landfills,” said EPA Administrator Carol Browner.

The regulations will affect only the 280 largest landfills across the country, including 88 in California--none in the Los Angeles area. Although those sites represent just 4% of all landfills, the mandated changes are expected to reduce overall landfill emissions by roughly half. The reductions will average about 90% at the targeted facilities, EPA officials said.

The agency estimates that gas-trapping equipment will cost each landfill an average of $2.2 million to install and $190,000 a year to operate. Consumers whose trash is hauled to the affected sites can expect their monthly bills to increase by 20 cents to 40 cents per household, according to EPA calculations.

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Large landfills will be required to monitor their emissions on a quarterly basis. Those that emit more than 55 tons of volatile organic compounds, including methane, benzene, vinyl chloride and chloroform, will be required to drill wells to collect the gases created by the decomposition of buried waste. Landfill operators can either burn the gas as it is generated, with no harm to the environment, or divert it for use in energy recovery systems.

Despite the EPA’s suggestion that “many landfills will use energy recovery systems” to reduce the costs associated with the new regulations, several waste management officials were somewhat skeptical.

Ed Skernolis, director of government affairs for WMX Technologies Inc., a commercial waste-management firm based in Oak Bridge, Ill., said that sites must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine if recovery systems are feasible. The decision to spend an additional $2 million to $3 million to cover equipment installation and associated costs would depend on “the landfill’s size, waste composition, age and climatic considerations,” Skernolis said. WMX Technologies operates 130 landfills, of which 33 are equipped with energy recovery systems.

Skernolis noted that waste stored in landfills located in dry climates, including parts of California, tends to decompose more slowly, increasing energy recovery costs.

According to EPA figures, some 7,000 landfills handle 60% of all municipal solid waste generated in the country. Of those, the agency said, 140 landfills utilize energy recovery systems, including 37 in California.

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Another factor affecting the decision to install energy recovery systems is the uncertain status of an existing tax credit for companies that develop renewable energy. Legislation to extend the tax credit, which is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, is stalled in a House committee.

“The tax credit can be the difference between whether it’s profitable or not profitable,” said Skernolis.

The new regulations are expected to result in the same reduction in smog levels as the removal of 3.5 millions cars from the nation’s roadways, the EPA estimated.

The projected impact on global warming is even more significant, the agency said, with the reduction in landfill emissions having the same effect as removing 21 million cars.

Under the authority of the Clean Air Act, the EPA proposed the new regulations to deal with landfill emissions in May 1991. Friday’s action is the last step in the process.

Calling the regulations a step forward, Michael Oppenheimer, a senior scientist for the Environment Defense Fund, noted that the United States is “way behind” in fulfilling the commitments it made during the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to mitigate other forms of pollution.

Oppenheimer said that the country could improve its environmental track record by making more regulations, such as the new landfill rules, mandatory instead of voluntary.

States have one year to devise plans to implement the regulations and two to three years to comply. They face penalties and fines if they fail to do so.

In addition to reducing pollutants that aggravate asthma, bronchitis and emphysema, the regulations are aimed at lessening the danger of methane-gas explosions as well as the foul odors associated with landfills.

The rules, which do not affect hazardous waste sites, will cover any future landfills where emissions might be expected to exceed specified levels. Browner said there are no plans to extend the ruling to smaller landfills.