• November 7, 2012
• By Jeremy Carroll @jeremyscarroll

 

The U.S. EPA will likely move forward with revising landfill air emissions standards after President Barack Obama was elected to a second term, CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America said.

John Skinner said the standards, which are expected to be available in mid-2013, would likely have been killed if Republican Mitt Romney had won the presidency.

"With the reelection of the president, I think they will continue," he said.

A landfill gas tax credit, set to expire at the end of 2013, might still have life as well, Skinner said. It was another measure Romney may not have supported.

"Gov. Romney said he was against extending the renewable energy tax credits while the president is in favor of extending the credits," Skinner said. "I think there will likely be a compromise between the president and the House of Representatives [on the issue]."

Chaz Miller, head of advocacy for the National Solid Wastes Management Association and the Waste Equipment Technology Association, said the environment wasn't an issue in this election.

"Whether it was climate change or other environmental issues, they simply weren't mentioned in the debates, and I didn't see any ads about them either," he said. "This wasn't an election about the environment."

Miller said the big issue facing the industry, and all business, is how President Obama and Congress tackle the looming fiscal cliff.

"I think that's going to be key because just from a pure business perspective, you need economic certainty in the country," he said. "So the question becomes what does Congress do to address the issue?"

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