[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E547-E548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SOLID WASTE GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 2009

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the 
``Solid Waste Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act,'' legislation that will 
reduce our nation's contribution to global warming by addressing the 
methane gas that escapes from municipal solid waste landfills.
  Hardly a week goes by without reports of new evidence that the world 
climate is changing because of human activities that are putting 
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Scientists predict that as the 
earth warms, droughts and flooding will become more severe, threatening 
the world's food supply. Warmer ocean waters are producing expanding 
oxygen-depleted zones that are unable to support sea life. Higher 
temperatures are shrinking the Arctic ice cap, threatening coastal 
communities with rising sea levels and destroying the habitat that 
polar bears depend

[[Page E548]]

on for survival. It is imperative that we look at all the options 
available to us for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
  While most of us are familiar with the harmful effects of CO2, 
methane is a greenhouse gas that is even more harmful. The U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency reports that methane is over 20 times 
more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2. Decomposing 
waste in landfills is the largest source of U.S. anthropogenic methane 
emissions, accounting for approximately 24 percent of these emissions. 
About 138 million tons of municipal solid waste were discarded into 
1,754 landfills in 2006, according to EPA estimates. Municipal and 
other landfills emitted over 6 million metric tons of methane gas into 
the atmosphere in 2005, the equivalent of 132 million tons of CO2.
  The Solid Waste Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act will create a new 
national program to address these emissions. By requiring the owner or 
operator of a municipal solid waste landfill to collect a modest fee on 
each ton of waste disposed of, revenue will be made available to 
support programs to reduce the amount of waste entering landfills and 
to make beneficial use of the methane generated by decomposing landfill 
waste.
  A fee of $5.00 per ton will produce close to $700 million in revenue 
for this program. The fees will be remitted to the local government 
having jurisdiction over the area in which the landfill is located. The 
local government could use the fees itself to undertake greenhouse gas 
reduction projects that were determined by EPA to be cost-effective. 
Alternatively, the local government could provide grants, loans, or 
other financial assistance to other entities to undertake such 
projects, or could transfer the fees to the State for that purpose. 
Projects could include waste reduction measures or recycling programs 
to reduce the amount of methane generated by decomposition, landfill 
gas recovery, and waste recovery including energy generation.
  Americans understand the enormous challenge we face as a nation in 
preventing global warming and are asking how they can make a 
difference. With the funding provided by this legislation, local 
communities can identify and implement projects that will make a real 
contribution to reducing greenhouse gases. I urge my colleagues to 
support the ``Solid Waste Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act.''

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