California is proposing its most significant update to the Landfill Methane Regulation (LMR) since 2010, a shift that brings the state closer to continuous, data-driven methane management. The amendments accelerate corrective action timelines, expand wellhead data requirements, tighten downtime allowances, and formalize the need for digital, auditable reporting.
For many operators, the question is not what CARB is changing; it’s how to comply without overwhelming field crews.
The good news? LoCI’s automated monitoring, control, and alerting technologies already meet, and in many cases exceed, CARB's technical requirements, providing a clear path to operational compliance and stronger gas recovery.
Below is a breakdown of CARB’s changes paired directly with LoCI’s real-time, automated solutions.
Important Note: The overview below reflects the proposed amendments approved by the Air Resources Board, with final regulatory language expected to be published next year as the rulemaking process concludes.
1. Remote Methane Plume Alerts Become Mandatory Action
What CARB is changing
Satellite or aerial-detected methane plumes will no longer be “nice to know” information. When CARB flags a plume over your site, you’ll be expected to investigate, identify the source, and take corrective action.
How LoCI helps
LoCI’s network of Controllers and Sentrys continuously feeds well- and header-level data (vacuum, gas composition, temperature, flow) into the WellWatcher® platform. That gives operators a live map of field behavior, so when a plume notification comes in, you can:
Instead of starting from scratch, you’re starting from a shortlist of likely sources.
2. SEM Exemptions Shrink, More of the Landfill Must Be Monitored
What CARB is changing
The proposal tightens exemptions for steep slopes, construction zones, and interim cover areas and pushes operators toward remote SEM tools (drones, lasers, etc.).
How LoCI helps
WellWatcher can be used as a targeting tool: you can quickly see which grids or well clusters show:
Additionally, our Controllers reduce the need for staff to spend time in high-risk areas while improving gas capture and system stability. They allow operators to keep the gas collection and control system online, monitor performance in real time, and adjust tuning strategies remotely, reducing the number of exceedances flagged during surface emissions monitoring (SEM) scans. Combined with remote SEM measurement, LoCI’s system helps keep teams safer while providing a clearer, more reliable picture of landfill performance.
SEM crews can then prioritize those high-risk areas first, and remote-sensing vendors can overlay their plume data on top of LoCI’s field view. The result: less wandering, more fixes.
3. Corrective Action Timelines Shrink From 10 Days to 3 Days
What CARB is changing
Operators must initiate corrective action within three calendar days of a SEM exceedance, and the affected well must be re-monitored within 10 days, regardless of the corrective measures taken.
How LoCI helps
LoCI’s Controller automatically adjusts applied vacuum to keep wells within operator-defined targets for gas quality and field stability. Instead of waiting for a monthly tune-up, wells are being adjusted continually based on live feedback.
When something does go wrong, you’re not starting your three-day clock from a cold start:
That makes the 3-day window far more manageable and gives you a paper trail if regulators ask what happened.
4. GCCS Installation Must Happen Sooner, as Early as Six Months
What CARB is changing
Active sites will need to bring gas collection systems online within six months of design-plan approval (down from 18), and many landfills will be required to install early horizontal or caisson collectors in new waste.
How LoCI helps
Early wells are inherently unstable due to variations in waste depth, waste composition, and environmental factors such as annual precipitation.
LoCI gives you structured startup visibility. Controllers continually monitor and tune the well to site defined criteria, to limit air pulled into waste and track the methanogenesis process, bringing wells safely online. This results in more stable captured gas composition, allowing this gas to be usable for RNG or electricity generation.
Those commissioning trends can be turned into simple reports demonstrating to CARB (and to your own management) that new systems came online on time and are performing as intended. And critically: LoCI helps operators maintain and control gas quality at these early collection points, ensuring they can contribute to the energy project without compromising aggregate gas quality.
5. Downtime Limits Tighten. Fewer Wells Can Be Offline, for Less Time.
What CARB is changing
The proposal limits the number of wells that can be offline at once and caps how long wells and gas collection systems can remain down without notification.
How LoCI helps
WellWatcher can be configured as an uptime dashboard, tracking:
You can also create simple “reason codes” for downtime (construction, safety, water, mechanical, etc.), giving you clean documentation if regulators ask for a breakdown and giving your team the data to reduce those events over time.
6. Expanded Wellhead Monitoring Requirements
What CARB is changing
CARB is moving beyond pressure-only checks to include temperature, flow, gas composition, and liquid levels, along with explicit trend analysis.
How LoCI helps
Between Controllers, Sentrys, and LoCI’s Liquid Level Measurement (LLM) system, operators can monitor:
All of this feeds into WellWatcher, where built-in trend tools and the daily action report, automatically highlights wells that are drifting out of normal range. So rather than driving up your labor expenses, WellWatcher lowers them, taking the compliance burden off your crew and freeing them to focus on higher-value work.
7. Digital Reporting, Archiving, and Multi-Party Access
What CARB is changing
Electronic records and standardized reporting will become the norm, especially as the rule clarifies that third-party GCCS and RNG operators are also responsible for compliance.
How LoCI helps
LoCI was built around digital transparency:
That makes it easier not just to respond to CARB or air district requests, but also to keep all partners on the same page about how the field is performing.
8. 24-Hour Wellfield Re-Tuning Requirement
What CARB is Changing
One of the more operationally significant updates is a new requirement that entire wellfields be re-tuned within 24 hours of a system vacuum change. For many operators, this is not a trivial task. On a typical 150-well site, manual re-tuning can stretch beyond a full workday. It often takes at least five minutes per well to walk to the location, take readings, adjust the valve, and document that change.
How LoCI helps
Because LoCI’s Controllers are installed at individual wells and connected through a centralized control platform, LoCI’s system can automatically retune within hours, or operators can initiate batch wellfield re-tuning remotely to speed up the process in just two minutes. The results of the Wellfield retuning are further monitored, documented, and summarized in a report in which your team can use to make additional follow-on remote adjustments to achieve the desired gas collection per well. What previously may have taken a day or more manually, can now be completed, verified, and recorded before a crew even makes it halfway across a landfill.
Have Questions About What This Means for Your Landfill?
Compliance with CARB’s proposed rule doesn’t have to be painful, especially if your field data, tuning, and reporting are already digitized.
We’re here to help.
If you’d like to talk through how these changes intersect with your current systems and projects, connect with our team to explore options that best fit your operation.