while nasa study finds epa estimates of landfill emissions are underestimated, scale of underestimates beats out oil and gas, livestock and coal, epa air regs don’t touch many landfills
NASA released the results of work by an international team of scientists, who combined observations from the TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument) aboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite with the GEOS-Chem atmospheric transport model to generate a high-resolution map of total U.S. methane emissions in 2019.
The study found landfills, the third-largest estimated source of methane emissions in the U.S., emitted an estimated 50 percent more methane than the EPA inventory, while oil and gas operations and livestock production, the two largest estimated sources of methane in the U.S., were higher than EPA’s estimates by 12 percent and 11 percent respectively. Methane emissions from coal mining were 28 percent lower than in the EPA inventory.
To quote the NASA report: “The science team zoomed in on a subset of 70 high-emitting landfills across the U.S. and found that emissions were 77 percent higher on median than what these facilities reported to the EPA. For the 38 of the 70 facilities that recovered gas, their emissions averaged 200 percent greater than reported. The map above shows the difference between what was reported to the EPA for these 70 landfills and the satellite-derived methane emissions for 2019.”…”Comparing the detailed satellite-based estimates to the EPA’s state-level inventories, the team found that emissions from the 10 top methane-producing states were, on average, 27 percent higher in 2019. Those 10 states were responsible for 55 percent of U.S. human-caused methane emissions.”
These are disturbing findings. And it’s important to ground ourselves in what landfills are even covered by the current EPA air emissions regulations (Clean Air Act - NSPS/EG) for municipal solid waste landfills.
According to data provided by the U.S. EPA, only 25% (645) of all active and closed municipal solid waste landfills (2,609) in this country are required by EPA regs to conduct basic surface emissions monitoring four times a year (monitoring which is flawed and partial), to even find methane exceedances.
It doesn’t get much better if you just look at the subset of landfills that emit at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent of methane and thus have to report estimated emissions to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) every year: Only 45% of landfills reporting emissions to the EPA GHGRP are federally required to conduct surface emissions monitoring.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that we need an upgrade in the EPA’s standards for landfills, starting with what several states - Oregon, Maryland, Washington and more - have already done: Ensure that landfills that are emitting large amounts of methane actually have to follow minimum performance and operational standards.
