In a final rule published on July 12, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expanded its Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (MRR) to include underground coal mines and industrial waste landfills, among other source categories. 

Coal Mines
Coal mines that meet a methane concentration and flow threshold of 100,000 ft.³ of methane per day must begin monitoring such emissions by January 1, 2011, and are required to begin reporting by March 31, 2012. The rule does not require that coal mine operations install any controls to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.  

These requirements apply only to active underground coal mines and mines under development that have active pre-mining degasification systems. The rule defines underground mines as those “at which coal is produced by tunneling into the earth to a subsurface coal seam.” “Active” is defined by reference to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) definition and further requires that “coal is being currently produced or has been produced within the previous 90 days.” The areas for which reporting is required include: ventilation wells or shafts, degasification wells or shafts, and degasification systems before, during, and after mining operations. The category does not include surface coal mines, post-coal mining activities like storage or transportation, or coal bed methane recovery not associated with active coal mines. Covered mines must report (1) quarterly methane emissions from mine ventilation and degasification systems; (2) quarterly carbon dioxide emissions from the on-site destruction of methane; and (3) greenhouse gas emissions from on-site sources covered by other sections of the MRR.

EPA selected periodic sampling as the minimum requirement for sampling of methane emissions, and requires the sampling and reporting of methane released from both ventilation and degasification systems. For methane liberated from mine ventilation air, companies that have MSHA’s quarterly monitoring data available may use that data to comply although EPA noted that MSHA typically does not share this information with private companies. Companies interested in installing continuous emissions monitoring for methane can comply in that manner as well. For methane emissions from degasification systems, companies must monitor methane emissions with either weekly sampling or continuous emissions monitoring.

This monitoring and reporting obligation applies to “owners” and “operators” of mines. Under the rule, each covered facility is to have only one designated representative responsible for reporting, as determined by a binding agreement between all owners and operators. Therefore, while both owners and operators fall under the reporting obligation, only one party will have the responsibility of conducting monitoring and filing the required reports. As a result, coal lessors will have to work out contractual arrangements with operators to determine who will be responsible for required monitoring, verification, and reporting of methane emissions. Moreover, while currently abandoned mines are not included within the rule, operating mines that stop production will remain subject to the monitoring and reporting requirements until they fall below the threshold.

Industrial Waste Landfills
The MRR now also applies to industrial waste landfills with a design capacity of 300,000 metric tons or greater and that accepted waste on or after January 1, 1980. This source category does not include hazardous waste landfills regulated under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act or under the Toxic Substance Control Act, construction and demolition waste landfills, or landfills that receive only inert wastes. The MRR also distinguishes between industrial waste landfills and municipal solid waste landfills. The industrial waste landfill source category was originally proposed with municipal solid waste landfills in the April 10, 2009, initial MRR proposal. However, EPA decided to separate landfills into two source categories and, on October 30, 2009, the agency promulgated MRR requirements only for municipal solid waste landfills.

Industrial waste landfills subject to the MRR must report annual methane generation and emissions and annual methane recovery, if the landfill employs a gas collection and destruction system. Facilities must ascertain annual modeled methane generation based on measured or estimated values of historic annual waste disposal quantities and appropriate values for modeling inputs. Default parameter values are specified in the rules for certain industries and for industrial waste generically. Facilities that do not collect and destroy landfill gas must adjust their annual modeled methane generation to account for soil oxidation using a default oxidation factor. The resulting value is the reportable value and represents both methane generation and emissions. For facilities that do collect and destroy landfill gas, the annual quantity of methane recovered and destroyed must be calculated based on continuous monitoring of landfill gas flow rate and continuous or weekly monitoring of the methane concentration, temperature, pressure, and moisture of the collected gas. Methane emissions for these facilities must be calculated in two ways: (1) by subtracting the measured amount of methane recovered from modeled annual methane generation and (2) by applying a gas collection efficiency percentage to the measured amount of methane recovered to back-calculate methane generation, then subtracting the measured amount of methane recovered from the back-calculated methane generation value. Equations are provided in the MRR for performing both calculations, and both of the calculated values must be reported.

EPA considered, but did not require, direct mass measurements (e. g. , scales) for determining waste quantities for future reporting years. In the final MRR requirements for industrial waste landfills, facilities that are subject to the rule are given several options for determining both current and historical waste quantities received by the facility, such as volume measurements and waste stream density determined from measurement data or process knowledge, or the number of truck loads and the mass of waste per load based on the capacity of the vehicle or container.  

For more information, please contact Vinson & Elkins lawyers Casey Hopkins, Bryan Moore, or Margaret Peloso. Visit our website to learn more about V&E's Climate Change and Environmental practices, or e-mail one of the V&E Climate Change or Environmental practice contacts.