EPA Fines Lawrence, Kansas, Landfill for Alleged Clean Air Act Violations
LENEXA, KAN. (DEC. 12, 2023) – Hamm Inc., owner/operator of a municipal sanitary landfill in Lawrence, Kansas, will pay a $4,206 civil penalty and spend approximately $30,000 to monitor air pollution emissions to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act.
“Two of EPA’s top priorities are mitigating climate change through its regulatory authorities and reducing methane emissions from landfills,” said David Cozad, director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “The Agency is encouraged by Hamm’s commitment to reduce emissions through its enhanced landfill cover integrity practices as a term of this settlement.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the company exceeded the regulatory standard for methane emissions and failed to take required corrective actions at the company’s landfill.
EPA discovered the alleged violations during a March 2022 inspection of the Hamm Inc. facility. In response to EPA’s findings and as part of the settlement, Hamm took steps to correct the violation and agreed to pay for drone technology to monitor methane emissions and employ Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to assess the landfill’s cover integrity to prevent potential future releases of landfill gases.
EPA says that that landfill gas emissions from municipal solid waste landfills cause significant air pollution that can endanger public health and the environment. Further, methane, which makes up approximately 50% of landfill gas pollutants, is more than 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and is therefore a significant contributor to climate change.
EPA has identified climate change mitigation as a top enforcement priority for the Agency. Learn more about EPA’s compliance initiatives.
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