methane leaks at coffin butte landfill pose “potential safety concern” EPA Says

On Friday, October 20, The Statesman Journal published an article that Industrious Labs and Beyond Toxics Oregon are quoted in, detailing how Coffin Butte Landfill is leaking methane at levels that exceed state and federal limits and what the landfill has publicly reported, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspection has found, including that “The inspection report noted there were so many exceedances that the inspector ran out of marking flags. In some cases, levels were so high instruments could not measure them. And multiple exceedances were measured several feet in the air, “indicating substantial landfill gas plumes,” according to the report.”

This is just one extreme example that illustrates what we’ve known for a long time - We need a more effective regulations that ensure we find methane leaks at landfills. The good news is there is ready-to-go technology that can do just that - drones, satellites, airflights and other forms of direct measurement technology - that can comprehensively monitor and identify emissions leaks. We urgently need the EPA to update its regulations governing landfills to require better monitoring.