California regulators are passing rules to prevent methane leaks and prevent land fires

In one of the most important state environmental decisions this year, California air regulators approved new rules designed to reduce methane leaks and better respond to devastating underground fires across the state.

Members of the California Air Resources Board voted 12-0 on Thursday to approve a set of new regulations for the state’s nearly 200 large landfills, designed to reduce the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas produced by the decomposition of organic waste. Landfills are the second largest source of methane emissions in California, trailing only large dairy cattle and cattle herds.

The new requirements will force landfill operators to install additional pollution controls; Investigate large-scale methane leaks in areas of landfills that are inaccessible to on-the-ground monitoring using new technologies such as drones and satellites; and resolve equipment malfunctions more quickly. Landfill operators will also be required to repair leaks identified through California’s new landfill detection program.

The rules are expected to prevent the release of 17,000 metric tons of methane annually — an amount capable of warming the atmosphere as much as 110,000 gas-powered cars for a year.

It will also reduce other harmful landfill pollutants, such as lung-damaging sulfur and cancer-causing benzene. Landfill operators will be required to keep good track of high temperatures and take steps to reduce the fire hazards that heat can create.

At least two underground fires are burning in Southern California – fumes from chemical reactions that burn buried waste, spewing toxic fumes and spewing liquid waste. Regulators found explosive levels of methane emanating from several other landfills across the state.

During a three-hour Air Resources Board hearing before the vote, many Californians who live near the Chiquita Canyon landfill — one of the known sites where waste burns deep underground — urged the board to act to prevent disasters in other communities in the state.

“If these rules had been updated earlier, maybe my family wouldn’t be sick,” said Steven House, a 27-year-old resident of Vale Verde. “My house will not be for sale. My best friend and neighbor will still be living next door to me. And I’m not going to ask you right now. You have the power to change that.”

Landfill operators, including corporations and local governments, have expressed concern about the costs and labor required to comply with regulations.

“We want to make sure this law is enforceable for our communities, not unnecessarily burdensome,” said John Kennedy, senior policy counsel for California Rural County Representatives, a nonprofit organization that represents 40 of the state’s 58 counties, many of which own and operate land. “While we support the broad goals of the rule, we have deep concerns about specific measures including the rules.”

Lauren Sanchez, who was appointed chairman of the California Air Resources Board in October, recently attended the United Nations COP30 climate conference in Brazil with Gavin Newsom. What she learned at the summit, she said, made it clear to her that California’s methane emissions have global consequences, and that the state needs to reduce them.

“The science is clear, acting now to reduce emissions of methane and other short-lived climate pollutants is the best way to immediately slow the pace of climate change,” Sanchez said.