The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is amending its Landfill Methane Regulation (LMR) to strengthen landfill compliance and meet the state’s target of reducing methane emissions by 40% by 2030. The rules target steep emissions reductions through enhanced surface monitoring, including drone-mounted scanners, robotic sensors, and remote monitoring, as well as stricter wellhead thresholds, among other measures.
The CARB-proposed amendments will have significant impacts on landfill and gas collection and control systems (GCCS), for which owners and operators will need to plan and implement to meet the requirements. As the nation’s top engineering specialist firm in this sector (ENR Solid Waste and Environmental Sourcebook), SCS Engineers has prepared articles and videos to assist landfill owners/operators in complying with these new requirements, including proactive measures that can be deployed to minimize impacts, planning for additional staffing support to complete all of the new monitoring, new or modified GCCS equipment and other infrastructure that will be needed, and new technology necessary to meet new deadlines.
As essential services, or any business for that matter, the changes require additional budget and capital investment to meet extensive surface and leak-monitoring and repair protocols, tighter regulatory timelines for installing GCCS, and more frequent and extensive monitoring and analysis of cover integrity, temperature, oxygen, and liquid levels.
Planning begins now.
SCS’s first article summarizes the key changes and highlights the most salient points of the revised LMR. The companion educational video and slide set are available free of charge to the public and can serve as a starting point for owners, operators, compliance staff, field technicians, and engineers in landfill and gas management, including energy recovery and renewable natural gas facilities.
CARB Landfill Methane Regulations Free Resources:
