If you've ever walked near a landfill, or driven by one on a warm summer day with your windows down, you know there's a certain smell it puts out.
But Colorado's landfills also produce massive amounts of methane, emitting as much dirty air as driving a million cars for a year. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in Colorado, after agriculture and fossil fuel extraction.
And that concerns health officials more than any smell – because methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and has some negative health effects, too.
Denver-based environmental journalist Jennifer Oldham recently wrote about this issue for Capital & Main. She says state health officials may ask Colorado’s landfill operators to measure and track their methane emissions, which is something they haven’t had to do before. Jennifer joined Erin O’Toole to talk about the problem and potential solutions.
