Chaffee County to submit comment on proposed Regulation 31, warns of substantial landfill compliance costs

Chaffee County staff said they will submit a public comment to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission opposing elements of proposed Regulation 31 as currently written, arguing the rule would impose disproportionate costs and operational burdens on local landfills.

A county staff member who presented the estimate said the modeling produced with the county’s landfill engineer, Sanborn Head, indicates a gas‑control and mitigation system would require several million dollars of initial capital construction and ongoing monitoring and reporting that could be substantial over a landfill’s operational lifetime. The presentation highlighted requirements in the draft rule for frequent testing and rapid corrective actions, which county staff said may be difficult to achieve given response times and existing local capacity.

Staff urged the commission to consider a more measured approach that balances emission reductions with realistic implementation timelines and funding mechanisms. The presenter said the county’s concern is not that the landfill is currently noncompliant but that the proposed threshold, testing cadence and rapid curative timelines would be difficult and costly for counties to meet without state funding or technical assistance.

Why it matters: presenters argued the draft rule is more stringent than federal standards and the county would face both an upfront cost to install a gas‑collection system and ongoing personnel and monitoring costs to satisfy weekly testing and reporting obligations. County staff asked commissioners to approve a comment for the commission’s public record before the hearing deadline.

The board did not take immediate action during the presentation; staff asked that the county’s comment be placed on the upcoming consent agenda so it can be filed by the comment deadline.

Speakers in the meeting identified the subject and reviewed Sanborn Head’s modeling; the presenter was recorded as a county staff member (name not specified in the transcript packet).