More reporting necessary about methane at Riverfront

Published 1:30 am Friday, January 15, 2021

Kudos and thanks to The Herald’s excellent reporter, Julia-Grace Sanders, for her frequent good coverage of environmental and climate issues impacting our area. However, I believe the recent article (“Fans blow landfill’s methane away from Everett development,” The Herald, Jan. 4) is somewhat misleading due to errors of omission of obvious and important aspects of the story.

The story is about methane from an abandoned landfill in Everett being managed by dumping it into the atmosphere. However, there is no mention of the enormously significant contribution of methane to global warming. The EPA reports that methane has 25 times the impact of carbon dioxide on global warming potential.

Everett City Councilman Paul Roberts and the City Council considered declaring a “climate emergency” last winter. The EPA offers information about landfill methane management techniques. Your own newspaper reported just last month about converting methane emissions to electricity. Why is the city now allowing this while its own January 2020 Climate Action Plan declares methane is “changing our climate in ways that threaten to destabilize global weather patterns and ecosystems.”

Third, why were building permits even issued without applying methane management?

Surely, hopefully, the HeraldNet article about methane was just the first installment this story.

Lee Alley

Snohomish