"The typical approach followed in developing a new municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill for urban areas is to attempt to locate the new landfill for the municipal solid wastes in a rural area where there is limited population and financial resources to conduct a
comprehensive review of the proposed impacts of the landfill. While it is possible to develop truly protective landfills, federal, state and local landfilling regulations do not require that a landfill be located, designed, operated, closed and receive postclosure
monitoring and maintenance to protect those within the potential impact zone of the landfill for as long as the wastes will be a threat to public health and the environment.Typically, the proposed landfill is of minimum (or near-minimum) allowed siting and design in order to reduce the cost of landfilling to those who generate the wastes, thereby imposing the impacts of the landfill on those who live/work/use the area near the landfill.  from Guidance on the Evaluation of the Potential Impacts of a Proposed Landfill G. Fred Lee, PhD, PE, BCEE and Anne Jones-Lee, PhD