Attorney General Hector BalderasAG News:
SANTA FE ― Joining a coalition of seven attorneys general, the California Air Resources Board, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Attorney General Hector Balderas submitted a 60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) failure to enforce a critical landfill methane regulation.
“New Mexicans enjoy clean air and the most beautiful natural environment in the nation, and I will not stand by while President Trump and his EPA Administrator put that at risk,” Attorney General Balderas said. “The Trump Administration must enforce this critical landfill methane regulation, and if it does not, we will sue to protect our citizens.”
The regulation at issue – known formally as the 2016 Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills – reduces emissions of volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, carbon dioxide, and methane. It went into effect on October 28, 2016, but the EPA has not enforced it. Instead, with no legal basis for delaying implementation and enforcement of the regulation, the EPA stated that it intends to complete a reconsideration of the regulation by Spring 2020. This is a blatant violation of the Clean Air Act.
Landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 18.2 percent of national emissions in 2015. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate all categories of stationary sources – such as landfills – that cause or contribute significantly to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.
The regulation at issue would lead to numerous public health and environmental benefits, including:
- Preventing 7.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year, which translates to:
- 1.6 million passenger vehicles driven for one year.
- 1.1 million homes’ electricity use for one year.
- Protecting against asthma and other respiratory diseases, especially among the country’s most vulnerable populations—its youngest and oldest residents.
- Protecting against cancer-causing hazardous air pollutants.
Joining Attorney General Balderas in sending today’s 60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue are the attorneys general of California, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The California Air Resources Board and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection are also a part of the coalition.
