(1) The owner or operator of a landfill with an active gas collection and control system or a venting system shall install monitoring ports and conduct monitoring as specified by the department to determine the effectiveness of the system.

  (2) The owner or operator of a landfill with an active gas collection and control system shall sample each gas extraction well for nitrogen or oxygen and for methane, pressure, temperature, liquid level, and, if existing wellheads allow flow measurement, flow. The owner or operator shall monitor gas flow to the control device, methane content at the control device, and other parameters as specified in an approved monitoring plan.

  (3) The owner or operator of a landfill shall sample each gas extraction well monthly for the parameters, other than liquid level, listed in subsection (2). Except as provided in this subsection, the liquid level in each well shall be monitored at least semi-annually. If for 2 consecutive monitoring events the liquid level in a well exceeds 50% but does not exceed 75% of the screened interval length, the owner or operator shall submit to the department for review a liquids removal evaluation and corrective action report for the well, unless the well has a functional, operated liquid pump. If the liquid level in a well exceeds 75% of the screened interval length during a monitoring event, then the liquid level monitoring frequency for that well shall be increased to quarterly. If the liquid level in a well exceeds 75% of the screened interval length for 2 consecutive monitoring events, the owner or operator of the landfill shall install a liquids pump, unless the department approves an alternative corrective action plan. If the liquid level in a well did not exceed 50% for the immediately preceding 2 consecutive monitoring events, the owner or operator may petition the department for a decreased monitoring frequency. However, decreased monitoring shall be conducted at least annually. For the purposes of the petition, the 2 consecutive monitoring events may include monitoring conducted before the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section.

  (4) The owner or operator of a landfill required to have an active landfill gas collection and control system shall operate the system so that the methane concentration is 500 parts per million or less above background at the surface of the landfill.

  (5) Not later than 180 days after initial waste receipt in a portion of a landfill, the owner or operator of the landfill shall commence surface monitoring for methane at all of the following locations:

  (a) Where visual observations, such as of distressed vegetation or cracks or seeps in the cover, indicate elevated concentrations of landfill gas.

  (b) At each penetration of daily, interim, or final landfill cover.

  (c) Around the perimeter of the active gas collection and control system.

  (d) Along a pattern that traverses the landfill at no more than 30-meter intervals, unless the owner or operator establishes an alternative traversing pattern that is approved by the department after a site-specific demonstration.

  (6) The owner or operator of a landfill shall conduct monitoring under subsection (5) in compliance with a surface monitoring design plan approved by the department that includes a topographical map showing the monitoring route and the rationale for any site-specific deviations from the 30-meter intervals under subsection (5)(d). The department may approve a surface monitoring design plan that excludes steep slopes or other dangerous areas from the surface monitoring.

  (7) The owner or operator of a landfill shall do all of the following:

  (a) Submit gas monitoring results to the department upon request.

  (b) Prepare field records of all monitoring activities under this section in sufficient detail to document whether the sampling plan has been complied with.

  (c) Retain the field records required under subdivision (b) in an operating record at the landfill or in an alternative location approved by the department until the end of the long-term care period for the landfill.

  (d) Make the field records available for department inspection on request.