“Colorado air quality regulators on Thursday adopted new rules aimed at limiting emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the state’s landfills.
Members of the Air Quality Control Commission voted 6-0 to approve the new rules, concluding a yearlong rulemaking process that resulted in a compromise plan agreed to by environmental groups and public and private landfill operators.
Food waste and other organic material dumped in landfills produces methane and other pollutants as it decomposes. Colorado’s 59 landfills emit a combined 1.3 million tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions every year, a little over 1% of the state’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.”
Launched in 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by the U.S. federal government’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the Alliance has grown to include 24 governors from across the U.S. representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population. Governors in the Alliance have pledged to collectively reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28 percent by 2025, 50-52 percent by 2030, and 61-66 percent by 2035, all below 2005 levels, and collectively achieve overall net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as practicable, and no later than 2050.
The Alliance’s states and territories continue to advance innovative and impactful climate solutions to grow the economy, create jobs, and protect public health, and have a long record of action and results. In fact, the latest data shows that as of 2023, the Alliance has reduced its collective net greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent below 2005 levels, while increasing collective GDP by 34 percent, and is on track to meet its near-term climate goal of reducing collective greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
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