The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the landfill and
19 other businesses and entities across central Ohio emitted a total of 1.45 million tons of carbon dioxide, a climate-change gas. Methane is 22 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, so the EPA describes the Franklin County landfill as emitting 262,582 tons of "carbon-dioxide equivalents."
Polluters in Columbus include Ohio State University, which released 174,315 tons of carbon dioxide, and the Anheuser-Busch brewery on the North Side, which emitted 54,392 tons.
However, central Ohio's contribution to climate change is nothing compared with the damage caused by large coal-fired power plants. American Electric Power's Gavin plant in Gallia County is the No. 1 polluter in Ohio, having emitted 16.74 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2010.
The EPA's new greenhouse-gas inventory shows that operations across Ohio might face federal climate-change limits - if they are ever enacted. With 244 sources reporting a total of 175.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, Ohio ranks third in the nation for pollution, behind Texas and Indiana.
To cut down on such pollution, the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio plans to drill 20 wells into the Franklin County landfill this year to funnel more methane to flares that burn off the gas. There are 137 wells now, said Jodi Andes, a waste authority spokeswoman.
Officials also plan to start siphoning off methane this year to sell as fuel for cars that run on compressed natural gas, she said. "You're taking a waste and creating economic development." Read the full report here.
Source: Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio), Waste Management World.
