HB1663 – Reducing methane emissions from landfills.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Duerr (D; 1st District; Bothell) (Co-sponsor Representative Fitzgibbon -D)
Current status – House concurred in the Senate amendments March 9th.
Next step would be – To the Governor.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
Comments –
I’ve done my best to summarize this bill, but I wouldn’t swear I’ve got it right…
In the Senate – Passed
Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology February 16th, replaced by a striker making minor changes that are summarized at the end of it and passed out of committee February 23rd. Referred to Ways and Means, and had a hearing there February 26th. Amended to make a couple of minor changes and passed out of committee February 28th. Referred to Rules. Amended on the floor to allow local governments to receive funding from the Climate Commitment Act for installing gas collection devices and gas control systems; to remove the requirement for methane hot spot monitoring and reporting; and to include installation of an energy recovery device as qualifying for the up to two year extension on the deadline for compliance. Passed by the Senate March 4th.
In the House – Passed
Had a hearing in Environment & Energy; replaced by a substitute and passed out of committee January 20th. (The substitute exempts limited purpose landfills; there’s a staff summary of the other minor changes in it.) Referred to Appropriations, and had a hearing there February 4th. Replaced by a 2nd substitute adding a 3% limit on methane leak rates for gas collection and control system routing gas to energy recovery or treatment systems, and changing the frequency of source testing for gas control devices. Passed out of committee February 5th, and referred to Rules. Amended on the floor, to change the frequency of required source testing in municipal landfills from three years to five years, unless they’re non-compliant, in which case they must be tested annually until they comply two years in a row. Passed by the House February 11th.
Summary –
The bill applies to municipal solid waste landfills and to limited purpose landfills that received waste after January 1st 1997, and receive or have received nothing but solid waste that isn’t inert or hazardous. If one contains less than 450,000 tons of waste, its owner or operator has to do an annual waste in place report. Landfills with more waste have to include a calculation of their gas heat input capacity in their report. (That’s the gross heating value of the methane emissions, which can be calculated in various ways.) If that’s more than 300,000 btus/hour recovered and there’s any measured concentration of methane over 200 parts/million by volume from the surface of one of these larger active, inactive, or closed landfills over four consecutive quarterly readings, they have to install a gas collection and control system, conduct instantaneous and integrated surface monitoring of the landfill surface, monitor the gas control system, and monitor each individual wellhead to determine the gauge pressure.
Collection and control systems have to handle the expected gas flow rate from the entire area of the landfill, be designed and operated so that there is no gas leak that exceeds 500 parts/million by volume at any component under pressure, and collect gas at a rate that keeps the instantaneous monitoring of surface methane (other than nonrepeatable, momentary readings) below 500 parts/million by volume ; or maintains an average methane concentration determined by integrated surface emissions monitoring below 25 parts/million by volume. (The requirements don’t apply to the working face of the landfill or areas where the cover’s been removed to work on systems or for law enforcement excavations.
Ecology or the local authority would have to allow the capping or removal of the gas collection and control system at a closed municipal solid waste landfill or limited purpose landfill, if the system had been in operation for at least 15 years, or the owner or operator demonstrated that system would be unable to operate for that long due to declining methane rates; the surface methane concentration measurements were below the act’s limits; and they submitted an equipment removal report.
The bill would exempt these landfill emissions from the cap and invest program, but it would expand the law that allows Ecology to impose civil penalties of up to $10,000 a day for violations of the Clean Air Act to include violations of these landfill emissions regulations, of the Clean Fuels Act, and of the rules governing burning permits (RCW 76.04.205). (I don’t know why it includes this last item, since that RCW already authorizes these penalties.)
Ecology would develop rules for implementing the bill, and for the monitoring procedures; it could collect fees to cover its costs. Owners or operators of these landfills would have to maintain records on monitoring, testing, landfill operations, and the operation of any gas control or collection device or system. They would have to notify Ecology if the landfill closes, and if they remove or shut down a gas control system. They could request alternatives to the requirements, which Ecology could evaluate on the basis of factors including their compliance history; documentation containing the landfill gas flow rate and measured methane concentrations for individual gas collection wells or components; permits; component testing and surface monitoring results; gas collection and control system operation, maintenance, and inspection records; and historical meteorological data.