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Draft Environmental Impact Report Page IV.D-7 Forward Landfill Expansion target dates by which statewide emission of greenhouse gas would be progressively reduced, as follows: • By 2010, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels; • By 2020, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels; and • By 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels. It is understood that landfills typically emit some CO2 and methane from the creation of landfill gas. When municipal solid wastes are buried in a landfill, a complex series of biochemical reactions occur in which anaerobic microorganisms decompose a portion of the organic fraction of the wastes to CO2 and methane, while the remainder does not appreciably degrade and is considered to be sequestered or stored. The methane and CO2 produced may be collected and flared or converted to energy,which oxidizes the methane emitted in the exhaust to CO2. The methane can also be oxidized to carbon dioxide by methanotrophic bacteria in the landfill cover soil. Therefore, the ultimate fate of carbon placed in the landfill is either sequestration or in emissions as methane or carbon dioxide. Management and treatment of waste ultimately leads to management of the method by which the carbon is released back into the environment, similarly changing the climate-related impacts upon the way waste is stored,treated, and disposed. The California Energy Commission estimated that in 2004,landfills produced 8.45 million metric tons of CO2—equivalent GHG emissions, or 2 percent of the state total. Landfills are one of the few sources showing a reduction in emissions in the California statewide GHG inventory versus the 1990 baseline year. This is due to improved practices in LFG collection since that time,even despite the fact that refuse disposal in landfills has increased over this same time period. Furthermore, if carbon sequestration is considered for landfills, the amount of carbon sequestered each year can offset the net methane emissions from landfills. Finally, a measurable fraction of the carbon in landfill newspaper,wood materials, yard waste, and other carbon sources is never released,but remains sequestered indefinitely in the landfill. Regulatory Agencies The EPA is responsible for implementing a myriad of programs established under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA), such as establishing and reviewing the NAAQS and judging the adequacy of State Implementation Plans (SIPs). However, EPA has delegated the authority to implement many of the federal programs to the states while retaining an oversight role to ensure that the programs continue to be implemented. _. The CARB is responsible for establishing and reviewing California's State standards, compiling the California SIP, securing approval of this plan from EPA, and identifying toxic air contaminants. CARB also regulates mobile emissions sources in California, such as construction equipment, trucks, and automobiles, and oversees the activities of air quality management districts, which are organized at the county and/or regional level. The county/regional air quality management districts are primarily responsible for regulating stationary sources at industrial and commercial facilities within their jurisdictions and for preparing air quality plans that are required under the federal Clean Air Act and California Clean Air Act. These regional air quality plans are prepared by districts throughout the State and compiled by CARB to form California's SIP. The local air districts also have the responsibility and authority to adopt transportation control and emission reduction programs for indirect and area--wide emission sources. 5 California Energy Commission,Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990--2004,January 23,2007.