I had never looked at landfills as viable energy sources until fairly recently, when I was reading about methane. Methane is a gas which emanates from landfills, rises into the atmosphere and can contribute to global warming. However, when it is harnessed and burned, there is actually a benefit to the environment, as less of this potent greenhouse gas simply rises into the atmosphere. I wondered whether a methane project could be used to power homes around Evansville, as is going to be done in other parts of the country. Yet, I thought the infrastructure might be too costly or complex for most landfills to use. Imagine my surprise then, when I watched a program on the National Geographic Channel recently about a huge methane project at the Puente Hills landfill that services Los Angeles County. I believe the methane captured from that landfill powers 100,000 area homes. Apparently, even with this "mega-landfill," it was worth the expense to install the infrastructure to capitalize on the methane and generate power from it. Given the massive size of this landfill, I can only imagine how much methane would otherwise drift up into the atmosphere, had this system not been built. I wasn't sure what would happen to the methane-capturing system once the landfill is filled to capacity and closed (and perhaps, converted into a golf course). I do not recall the program mentioning how long the methane gas rises from the garbage disposed of there. It did say however, that there were newspapers in a preserved state from the Nixon era; it seems that with a lack of oxygen reaching the buried trash, the whole decomposition concept does not necessarily hold true. Hopefully, whatever methane continues to emanate from Puente Hills even after it is closed, will be utilized for energy. If Puente Hills can do it, why are not more landfills doing this and local governments encouraging the same?