The House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment opened a public hearing May 1 on Senate Bill 726, which would direct the Environmental Quality Commission to set rules allowing use of advanced methane-detection technologies and require municipal solid waste landfill operators to report monitoring results in spatial formats such as shapefiles or GeoJSON. Chair Lively closed public testimony and carried the hearing over to May 6 so additional witnesses could appear.

Proponents said more comprehensive monitoring and public data would find leaks that current walking-based surface emission monitoring can miss and would inform mitigation and public-health responses. "The methane monitoring and municipal solid waste landfills is a critical step toward improving environmental protection, public health and community safety," Representative Sarah Finger McDonald told the committee, identifying Coffin Butte Landfill near Corvallis as a local focus of concern.

Mason Levitt, a GIS technician with Beyond Toxics, emphasized the bill’s data-reporting requirement: "SB 726 requires that current data on surface emissions monitoring and new advanced methane monitoring technology is reported in what is called a shape file or a GeoJSON file." Levitt said operators already collect spatial data but are not required to share it with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and that combining datasets from walking surveys, drones, satellites and gas-collection infrastructure would allow regulators and communities to see where leaks occur.

Local residents, including Kate Harris and two children from Adair Village, said landfill odors and suspected emissions have affected daily life and outdoor activity. "I'm here today in strong support of SB 726 to discuss the health and safety of children in and around Adair Village," Kate Harris said. Several witnesses, and a written testimony read into the record, cited prior investigations: testimony reported that an EPA investigation in 2022 identified about 60 leaks and that a 2024 walking-based inspection found 41 exceedances at Coffin Butte; those figures were presented to illustrate gaps proponents say could be filled by advanced monitoring.

Senator Sarah Gelser Blue, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure does not change federal or state emission limits but would give regulators and the public more accurate information. She noted the bill delays any DEQ rules until 2027 and would let DEQ identify which advanced technologies are acceptable for Oregon’s conditions.

Waste industry and local-government witnesses opposed or urged changes. Justin Martin and James Denson, representing Waste Management, said the technology cited by proponents is better used as a directional tool and is not yet proven for regulatory compliance. "We do not believe the technology is proven enough to meet that standard," Denson told the committee, citing operational and measurement concerns, including DEQ rule requirements that some surface measurements be taken within about two inches of the ground.

Tim Dooley of the Association of Oregon Counties said counties operate 16 landfills that could be affected and provided a fiscal estimate: "counties alone estimate a $600,000 minimum biennial fiscal impact from the bill," he said. Dooley recommended a voluntary pilot program or excluding publicly owned landfills from the bill’s requirements.

Committee members asked proponents and opponents about technology availability, costs and enforcement. Mason Levitt said one commercially used sniffer-drone operation runs roughly $15,000 per operation and argued drone-based surveys can be cheaper than multiday walking surveys because they reduce staff time and can reach unsafe or inaccessible areas. Waste Management and some county witnesses responded that using advanced methods in addition to current walking surveys could duplicate effort and raise costs.

Chair Lively closed public testimony and announced the hearing would be continued on May 6 so remaining witnesses could testify and committee work sessions would be rescheduled.

The hearing produced discussion, not votes. If the committee moves the bill, DEQ would be authorized to develop rules specifying which advanced monitoring technologies and reporting formats operators may use, with a compliance timeline included in the bill text and testimony (DEQ rulemaking to take effect in 2027, as discussed by the sponsor).