Roosevelt Landfill in washington reported five years of zero emission exceedances–but EPA inspection report tells a different story
Roosevelt landfill is an active municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill close to the Oregon border, that boasts a “state of the art” operation generating power from methane gas.
Through a public records request, we received several U.S. EPA inspection reports on landfills in Washington, including the Clean Air Act Inspection Report from June 2022 for the Roosevelt Landfill, operated by Republic Services. The U.S. EPA did an announced inspection of Roosevelt Landfill, to conduct surface emissions monitoring (SEM) and to evaluate compliance with landfill air rules.
The landfill recirculates leachate, a practice that increases methane gas generation and enables the landfill to save on leachate disposal costs, and sends its landfill gas to a Renewable Natural Gas plant. The Landfill generates approximately 10 to 12 million gallons of leachate per year, of which approximately 6 million gallons are recirculated. They report that over 95% of collected landfill gas goes to the HW Hill Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Plant owned and operated by Klickitat County Public Utility District #1.
During the inspection, the EPA showed their results to the landfill’s environment consultant for visual confirmation and asked him to state if he had any concerns with the EPA’s monitoring methods. The inspection found:
Over the course of the day, EPA identified 16 points in exceedance of the regulatory limit of 500 parts per million (ppm), of which 5 points were above 10,000 ppm. 13 of the exceedances were at clearly identifiable penetration points. Two exceedances were at exposed pieces of truncated piping or hose sticking out from the cover. One exceedance was at a partially covered valve box dug into the landfill cover.
The EPA reviewed extensive documentation, including Republic’s submitted quarterly monitoring over the last five years and noted, “despite Republic having never found any SEM exceedances in its past 5 years of quarterly monitoring, including a full year of checking all penetration points, EPA identified 16 points in exceedance of 500 ppm, including 5 points above 10,000 ppm, indicating potential concerns with Republic’s SEM/Method 21 procedures.”
Close-up of animal burrow, where EPA found 5% methane emissions (from EPA inspection report)
This landfill has a gas capture system to a renewable energy gas facility, recirculating millions of gallons of leachate which amps up methane generation even more. It’s a good reminder that capturing gas for energy does not mean methane gas emissions are taken care of. In fact, this inspection reveals quite the opposite result.
