Date: June 9, 2009
Source: Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
SWANA Recommends Changes to EPA Proposed Mandatory Reporting Rule
On Tuesday, June 9, 2009, the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding their proposed rule on mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases. The rule calls for covered sources emitting over 25,000 tons of CO2e per year to report their emissions of a number of greenhouse gases.
This ruling would directly affect active and closed landfills and waste-to-energy plants. As currently written these solid waste operation would be required to begin reporting of their emissions starting January 1, 2010. In order to comply with these regulations many would have to install new continuous emissions monitoring equipment, a costly burden.
In SWANA's letter, they expressed many potential concerns with the rule, but mainly focused on the continuous monitoring of emissions from solid waste operations as well as the relatively quick start date for reporting.
"Many solid waste operations are already reporting emissions data for a number of regulatory programs, including existing climate programs and registries," said John Skinner, Executive Director and CEO of SWANA. "More integration and coordination is needed with other similar programs throughout the United States so that the burden of additional reporting and monitoring may be reduced," Skinner added.
The reporting rule is written to require continuous emissions monitoring of methane from landfills and CO2 from WTE plants. This monitoring method does not improve the accuracy of the information being reported and we request the EPA change their rule to allow for monthly reporting of emissions instead.
The proposed requirement to begin collecting data on January 1, 2010 may be appropriate for industries who are already reporting on other air quality emissions. However, it is too early for many facility operators who will need to train staff, and install new monitoring equipment, etc. SWANA recommends that EPA have a start date of January 1, 2011 with this first year constituting a phase-in period to establish and confirm sampling and analysis protocols, and January 1, 2012 the date when inventories will bear the full scrutiny of EPA. This is the approach that has been taken in the California AB-32 program.
To read our full letter to EPA please click here: www.wasteinfo.com/news/images/SWANAReportingRuleComments_Final.pdf.
About SWANA:
For over 40 years, the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), has been the leading professional association in the solid waste management field. SWANA's mission is "to advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound management of municipal solid waste." SWANA serves over 8,200 members and thousands more industry professionals with technical conferences, certifications, publications and a large offering of technical training courses. For more information visit www.SWANA.org.
For more information, contact:
Alisha McMichael
Marketing Program Manager
amcmichael@swana.org
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