Brownfield sites, including closed landfills, sometimes also referred to as legacy landfills, are financial liabilities to their owners whether they be a municipality, a county or the former operators or owners of the site. The owners of such sites may never see an end to the perpetual monitoring requirements mandated by federal and state laws governing solid waste disposal facilities. Monitoring costs are derived from such activities as groundwater and gas probe monitoring; upgrades, repairs or maintenance to landfill gas and leachate collection systems; and maintenance, monitoring or repair of final cover systems, including potentially expensive erosion control. In this challenging economy, it may be more difficult to convince developers to build new construction on closed landfill sites. Despite these challenges, closed or legacy landfills can also be positive attributes to a community or owner wanting to take advantage of a large platform for producing alternative energy. Wind farms, the capture of landfill gas (methane) and conversion to electricity (known as landfill gas to energy or LFGE) or solar farms are all excellent uses for legacy landfills.

Many old landfills and brownfield sites are located near urban areas with adequately developed utility infrastructure. With electrical lines nearby, close-in Brownfields and legacy landfills can more efficiently produce and transmit power to areas in need of renewable energy supplies and less investment in costly utility infrastructure will be required. ...

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