Legislation would require Oregon landfills to use aerial, drone or satellite monitoring

Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would require landfills to improve methane monitoring and reporting, the Statesman Journal reports.  

Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D-Corvallis, introduced the bill in response to ongoing concerns about methane releases at the Coffin Butte Landfill, a 178-acre landfill owned by Republic Services, Pheonix.

In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found Coffin Butte was leaking methane at levels that exceed state and federal limits and what the landfill had publicly reported.

EPA investigators returned in 2024 and found more than 40 locations where methane exceeded limits, including at holes in the cover material, according to the report.

Senate Bill 726 would require municipal solid waste landfills to use advanced technology, such as drones, planes or satellites, to measure methane releases. It would require landfill owners to report the results to the state Department of Environmental Quality in GIS software, to fix any areas exceeding limits and to monitor that area again.

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“What this bill talks about is how we are able to track and measure the amount of methane that is leaking from our landfills,” Gelser Blouin said during a hearing on the bill. “We want to encourage the use of these advanced technologies so that we can get more accurate information about specifically where leaks might be.”

The bill calls for the state’s Environmental Quality Commission to adopt rules for the program, which would begin by July 1, 2026.

The bill’s opponents include the Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association (ORRA) and the Association of Oregon Counties. They argue the EPA does not have standards for alternative methods of measuring methane.

“The bill would make it a requirement for us to use technologies that are not available yet,” says Craig Campbell, government affairs director for ORRA. “It’s great if there’s a technology out there that’s perfect, but if you can’t get your hands on it, it’s useless.”