Petition Asks Biden Administration for Stronger Methane Emissions Regulations

Environmental groups are coming together to ask the Biden administration to do something about methane emissions.

Methane, of course, is a harmful, planet-warming gas that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period and landfills are the third largest source of the gas in the U.S. Also, it makes up roughly 12 percent of the country’s contribution to climate change.

According to the environmental groups supporting the petition, the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules do not do enough to control methane emissions. The petition also suggests that the current standards do not reflect the best ways to cut down emissions.

The petition states that implanting upgrades of technology that burns off landfill emissions and expanding systems that capture the gas for burning off, or other uses, can save around 466,000 metric tons of methane per year.

Also, the petition asks the agency to lower the threshold that landfills must install pollution controls and improve monitoring.

“We’re asking EPA to look at its regulations and to revise them,” said Leah Kelly, senior attorney at the Environmental Integrity Project. “We think they very clearly do not meet the legal standard required…the fact that states are issuing stronger regulations clearly demonstrates the fact that more can be done.”

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