October 12, 2021
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
The Board of Directors of the Institute for Energy and Resource Management (IeRM) applauds your recent announcement that the United States government will increase its efforts to reduce methane emissions from leaking oil and natural gas facilities. As you know, methane is a potent greenhouse gas that in the short term is much more damaging than carbon dioxide, and reducing emissions of methane by 50% by 2030 will make a big difference in our children’s future.
There is another source of fugitive methane emissions that should also be addressed: landfills. A study conducted by NASA in 2019 for the State of California found that landfills were a major source of methane, greater than the agriculture and oil and gas sectors. Even facilities with landfill gas capture systems emit significant amounts of methane. Compared to other industries, landfills are very loosely regulated, and monitoring requirements are low.
In Glasgow at COP 26, you will hear from your counterparts in the European Union how and why they have phased out the practice of landfilling reactive wastes altogether, and what a huge difference it has made to the greenhouse gas emissions of the European states. We urge you to consult with them, to review their experience, and to have the appropriate staff at USEPA and other agencies work with their European counterparts to identify ways in which landfilling as a practice can be phased out.
IeRM, a 501c3 organization, has developed an Integrated Waste Management System, which draws upon the experiences of many countries, and which could be put in place in US cities before 2030, including the elimination of landfills. We would be pleased to present this to the appropriate agency at their convenience.
Once again, we greatly appreciate and support the effort you are making to combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gases. We wish you good fortune at COP 26, and we look forward to hearing of your successes.
Sincerely,
Philipp Schmidt-Pathmann President and CEO
The Institute for Energy & Resource Management / IeRM
12623 SE 83rd. Ct.
Newcastle, WA. 98056
Phone: +1-206-686-3235