The Air Quality Control Commission of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment will hold a hearing in August to consider a proposed rule on monitoring and reduction of methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills.
Key components of the proposal under Colorado Air Quality Regulation Number 31 include:
- A lower threshold for methane emissions, requiring some landfills to install gas collection and control systems, that is more stringent than federal requirements,
- Methane monitoring requirements, including options to use alternative and remote monitoring technologies to identify large emission sources, and
- A phaseout of open flares.
The proposal is part of the near-term actions outlined in Colorado’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap 2.0. The proposed regulation also complements an October 2024 rulemaking, which expanded greenhouse gas reporting for state landfills. The data collected from that rule will help Colorado track methane reductions over time.
