California air regulators approved regulations on Thursday to tighten methane detection and capture standards for landfills.
What happened: California Air Resources Board members voted unanimously to update the state’s 15-year-old landfill methane regulation, which requires roughly 150 facilities to install gas collection and control systems to prevent leaks.
The amended standards require landfill operators to use new tools like drone-mounted scanners to detect leaks in parts of facilities that are inaccessible to handheld equipment, quickly respond when notified about leaks spotted by plane or satellite, and maintain lower temperatures in gas collection wells to prevent toxic subsurface fires.
“Taking action on methane gives us the chance to slow the pace of warming in the near term and avoid catastrophic changes to the climate, and the global community recognizes how important of an opportunity this is,” said CARB Chair Lauren Sanchez.
