The fight against climate change usually requires costly trade-offs like higher gas prices or expensive technology upgrades. Occasionally, though, a policy solution offers massive environmental benefits for a cost so small it is effectively invisible. That is what the California Air Resources Board has just delivered.
On Nov. 20, the board updated its regulations for landfill methane. The change was long overdue. The current rules are 15 years old.
Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed to the Air Resources Board earlier this year, supported the new regulations. “You have brought forward a proposal that is cost-effective and also critical to public health and greenhouse gas mitigation,” she told board staff.
She is right on both counts.
Under the new rules, public and private landfill operators must improve how they detect methane leaks and repair them more quickly. Tools like drone-mounted scanners and satellite monitoring will make this possible.
Historically, landfills had technicians walk across the site with handheld scanners. That was a slow process that could miss significant leaks.
The regulations take effect at the start of 2027, allowing ample time for landfill operators to acquire necessary equipment and to train staff.
Methane is a natural byproduct of decomposition in landfills. Landfills try to contain it underground, but sometimes systems fail.
When methane escapes into the atmosphere, it becomes a significant contributor to climate change, 80 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. Fortunately, it breaks down in only seven to 12 years, far faster than the centuries that CO2 can linger. That means methane reductions can have tangible consequences for the planet quickly.
The waste management industry initially worried about the cost of upgrading to 21st-century technology. Industry opposition cooled when state regulators calculated that the expense would be 31 cents per garbage customer per year. That is less than the cost of a postage stamp.
Those same regulators estimated that the new rules would produce $34 million in social benefits for $12 million in compliance costs.
Such bargains are rare in a state used to environmental mandates coming with hefty price tags.
The nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that California’s cap-and-trade program costs average households hundreds of dollars per year.
Sonoma County has experienced the problem of undetected leaks firsthand. Supervisor Hopkins also serves on the advisory committee of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. In October, the district fined the operator of the county’s Central Landfill in Petaluma, Republic Services, $159,000 for methane leaks discovered in 2023. Those leaks had gone undetected for an unknown period before inspectors found them. If the new state regulations had been in place, they likely would have been found sooner.
Hopkins recently attended the COP30, the annual United Nations climate summit, in Brazil.
Speaking on a panel there, she acknowledged the awkwardness of being an American at an international gathering as President Donald Trump cancels America’s climate commitments.
“Please know that there are good folks working on the ground trying to make sure that we are doing the right thing by our country and by the world,” Hopkins told the audience.
The methane vote demonstrates exactly that kind of ground-level action. California remains committed to fighting climate change, especially when it delivers big outcomes for only 31 cents.
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