U.S. Senate environment and public works committee spotlights potent methane emissions from landfills

On January 31, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on methane emissions from municipal landfills. It was thrilling to see Senators weigh in on the need for keeping food and other organic waste out of landfills,

Here’s some notable quotes from the day from members of the Committee, and you can watch the entire Committee hearing archived on Youtube:

Committee Chair U.S. Senator Tom Carper: “Landfills and their emissions are largely out of sight, they are largely out of mind for most people. However, landfill methane emissions are the third — that’s right, the third — largest source of methane emissions in the United States and globally.”

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla: reflecting on his personal experience growing up near a California landfill. “We bore the brunt of what landfills mean in all the communities in which they’re located. Too often, it’s soil contamination, water impacts, diesel trucks driving through neighborhoods emitting toxic exhaust, and on and on and on.”

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: “The EPA systematically undercounted methane leaks for a very long time…EPA having done this poorly for a very long time, it’s my understanding [the agency] has no direct contractual relationship with any satellite providing entity so that it can deploy its efforts when a large methane leak appears, which is to me a little bit like the fire department not tracking where smoke is pouring out of buildings and going to respond to the problem. I just don’t know why that hasn’t happened yet.”