Most Americans are unaware that reducing methane emissions is the single most impactful action we can take right now to slow global warming.

This super-pollutant’s ability to trap heat and warm the planet is about 80 times greater than carbon dioxide. When people think of methane, it’s often of belching cows or leaking pipes, but our trash piling up in landfills is actually the third largest source of human-caused methane pollution in the United States.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) set the standard for regulating methane emissions from landfills. Now, thanks to huge advances in technology and ever-evolving research and data, we can see just how prevalent and damaging methane emissions continue to be.

The good news is that CARB can use this new information to do what it has always done best — take action and lead the nation in finding, capturing and controlling dangerous pollution.

Today, California ranks second in the nation for methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills, with estimated emissions equivalent to the carbon dioxide emitted from 5 million cars driven for a year. Three hundred landfills are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the state’s overall methane emissions caused by buried food scraps and other organic waste that steadily decompose under mountains of trash.

And the latest research — led by the non-profit Carbon Mapper — reveals that landfills are sending methane into the air at a rate that’s 40% higher than previously estimated, with concentrated plumes persisting for months or even years in landfills across California. These invisible emissions represent an untapped opportunity to address climate change and help California meet its recent commitment to slash methane pollution 40% by 2030 compared to 2013 levels.

Tamping down on methane pollution also protects California communities from the other toxic pollutants spewed by landfills. Emissions like volatile organic compounds worsen respiratory illnesses and a myriad of health impacts for people living in the shadow of these facilities. Residents near the notorious Chiquita Canyon Landfill have spent years suffering from symptoms like dizziness, headaches, nausea and worse.

Achieving California’s statewide target of diverting 75% of its organic waste from landfills is critical. Millions of Californians have embraced this goal and diverted green waste to recycling centers for composting. But the existing garbage in our landfills must still be dealt with for decades to come.

One straightforward solution is for CARB to quickly update its regulations to require stronger landfill management practices that include not only aerial surveys like those used to conduct Carbon Mapper’s study, but also ground sensors, drones and satellites that can provide an accurate picture of methane emissions.

Other readily available, common-sense requirements to prevent leaks include using more protective material for landfill cover, taking steps to reduce downtime for gas collection systems, and setting more stringent methane emissions levels. None of these practices require moonshot technology or break the bank, and every one of them can be implemented with relative ease. Most importantly, they put an emergency brake on global warming at a time when it’s urgently needed.

California has always embraced technology to lead the nation on tackling our toughest environmental and public health challenges. Now, CARB has the opportunity to once again set the national standard for proven solutions to protect communities, stop pollution and slow global warming.

Gina McCarthy is the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as the first White House National Climate Adviser. She is the managing co-chair of climate action coalition America Is All In.

California’s cannabis is deep in the red, but unfortunately for the state, most of those debtors are already out of business.

That’s according to a new report from Greenwave Advisors that determined that the state of California is owed approximately $732 million in cannabis sales & use, excise, and cultivation taxes, but about 72% of the companies that owe simply don’t exist anymore.

Greenwave said it reached that conclusion by analyzing data on delinquent taxes provided by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. In addition to the uncollected taxes, the CDTFA said it also assessed $173 million in taxes on unlicensed sales, which Greenwave says translates to $1.2 billion in sales through unlicensed channels, or a quarter of the total market.

California reported $4.4 billion in sales in 2023, a 16% increase over 2022’s $3.8 billion.

Distributors also likely owe the state $1.2 billion in taxes, which Greenwave said is higher than its previous estimate of $1 billion.

In September, one of California’s largest distributors Herbl went out of business. At the time Green Market Report wrote that vendors complained about not getting paid by the distributor, which in turn was allegedly being stiffed by strapped dispensaries after taking inventory. Herbl filed several collections claims in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against operators.

Greenwave surmises that if the distributors aren’t getting paid, then the taxes likely won’t get paid either.

High and higher taxes

According to Cova Software, “Between California’s excise tax, regular sales tax, and local business tax, adult-use customers are paying anywhere between 28% and 40% cannabis retail taxes on every purchase.”

The main excise tax of 15% is set to increase to 19% in 2025. It isn’t hard to imagine that if companies can’t pay the taxes they have now, increasing them will only amplify the problem.

Tax man cometh

If companies don’t pay the tax bill and the accompanying 50% penalty for late or missed payments, their properties can be seized. But the results of those actions often fall far short of the actual debt.

For example, the CDTFA held an auction in February to sell property seized from 10 cannabis businesses in Los Angeles. The department noted on its website that the items were seized as a result of search warrants served to collect taxes owed by 10 cannabis businesses. Nine were illegal businesses, and one was a legal dispensary with unpaid taxes.

That auction generated only $2,075 against the unpaid $14.4 million in taxes.

In April, the state announced it had also seized products from the Kush Spot and Verlton Glaspie, which does business as Whittiers Cure Cannabis Dispensary, for unpaid taxes.

“Seizing and auctioning property from cannabis businesses that evade the law is a tool to recover the taxes owed to the state,” said CDTFA Director Nick Maduros.

Topline

Amazon will begin delivering packages by drone in Phoenix later this year, the company announced Monday, marking the latest expansion for its new but still fairly small drone delivery program—though California’s drone service will be ending this year.

Key Facts

Big Number

Two. That’s how many places Amazon will be offering drone delivery once the Arizona site opens. The company began testing drone deliveries in College Station, Texas, and Lockeford, California, in 2022. Though the California option is closing, Amazon said it will continue drone delivery in Texas and “will open further U.S. locations in 2025.”

Surprising Fact

The most popular item ordered through drone delivery is AA batteries, Amazon said in a release last October. Beauty and drugstore products are also offered as some of the thousands of products available weighing less than five pounds.

Key Background

Prime Air was first outlined by Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos in 2013 as a service that would allow for products to be taken from an Amazon warehouse to someone’s home in less than 30 minutes. It took the service nearly 10 years to be ready to launch, though, and just after it did, the Prime Air division was hit with layoffs, CNBC reported. The service remains small: Last May, Amazon told CNBC it made just 100 drone deliveries that year across its two markets, despite predicting it would deliver 10,000 deliveries by the end of that year. In October, Amazon revealed its newest Prime Air drone, the MK30, which is still in flight testing as of April. The new drone is quieter, can fly further than the current drone being used and “can operate in more diverse weather conditions, including light rain,” the company said. The MK30 drones are scheduled to replace Prime Air’s current drones by the end of 2024.

What We Don’t Know

Exactly when drone delivery will start in Arizona. Amazon simply said “later this year” when announcing the program’s expansion to the Phoenix area. Amazon said it is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and local officials and will begin reaching out to customers when it has received all the needed approvals.

Further Reading

MORE FROM FORBESJeff Bezos
The VergeAmazon is shutting down its drone delivery service in California as it looks to other markets