As Feds Sweep Potent Methane Pollution Under Rug, New York Sets New Standard for Landfill Methane Accountability

For decades, a core weakness in finding and fixing pollution coming from U.S. landfills  has been hiding in plain sight: federal greenhouse gas measurement programs and regulations still do not require landfills to use more effective, modern technologies to detect and measure methane pollution. Instead, the feds rely on outdated estimation formulas and infrequent, manual inspections that studies have repeatedly shown can miss, or dramatically undercount, real-world emissions (over 80% missed!).  Methane is invisible, odorless, and highly variable. Accurately finding and measuring it requires precise technology.

Worse, the Trump Administration’s EPA has moved to end the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program - killing the only national public information providing estimated pollution emissions from large point source emitters such as landfills. In most states, there is no comparable source of landfill emissions data with the same level of detail or public accessibility. 

Thankfully, states can use technology readily available to find and measure methane.  Drones, satellites, aircraft surveys, and fixed sensors are consistently revealing pollution levels far higher than traditional methods predict. And once emissions are found, they can be reduced. That’s why it matters that, over just the past two years, Colorado, California, and now New York have formally acknowledged the superiority of remote methane detection technologies  and begun integrating these technologies into their policies. 

Against this backdrop, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) took public comment this summer on the state’s draft landfill emissions reporting rule. RMI led a coalition letter — joined by Full Circle Future and other NGOs — urging the state to leverage 21st century technology so methane emissions are more accurately measured by requiring direct measurement of methane emissions for the largest landfill polluters, rather than relying solely on outdated estimation formulas.

 NYDEC listened.

Under the final rule the agency just announced, New York will, for the first time, require all municipal solid waste landfills to report estimated greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, any landfill emitting more than 300,000 metric tons of CO₂e annually will also be required to directly measure methane using advanced detection technologies. Landfills must submit monitoring plans and begin reporting direct-measurement data in 2029. Estimated emissions reporting will begin in 2026, with public release of the data starting in 2027.

This is a major precedent — another state explicitly recognizing that modern detection technology is essential and that the current federal framework isn’t getting the job done.

New York’s new rule reflects a growing consensus: you can’t manage what you can’t measure. By requiring direct measurement for the largest emitters, the state is taking a critical step toward accurate data, faster fixes, and real methane reductions. At a moment when federal oversight is uncertain, New York is setting a model other states can follow.

Now, New York air regulators must build on their own momentum by drafting and implementing landfill standards that dramatically slash methane, while also protecting communities from the health-harming pollution that comes along with it. Our research finds that, by embracing practical, common-sense improvements to state regulations, DEC can reduce landfill methane 46% by 2050. It’s a major opportunity for New York to live up to its reputation as a climate leader and deliver cleaner air to the 1 in 3 New Yorkers who live near a landfill. We implore them to take it.