For Immediate Release
KDHE Office of Communications
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) recently contacted dozens of businesses in Kansas to bring facilities into compliance that are currently operating boilers subject to state and federal requirements.
During regular air permitting activities, the department determined the need to contact several facilities that were operating boilers without the required air quality permits. As a result, KDHE began the Boiler Sheltered Initiative, designed to prevent facilities from incurring civil enforcement actions and fines and bring them into compliance in an efficient manner.
To determine if there were other eligible sources that would benefit from this initiative, KDHE contacted the Kansas Department of Labor and obtained their boiler database, which was used to develop a contact list for the initiative. In total, KDHE contacted 65 facilities with a total of 96 boilers.
State and federal regulations require industrial, commercial and institutional boilers installed after June 9,1989, with a heat input capacity greater than 10 million Btu/hour to be subject to new source performance standards outlined in the Kansas Air Quality Act.
Combustion emissions from boilers include nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. These common pollutants negatively impact the environment and human health and are monitored to prevent environmental degradation.
KDHE and the Kansas State University Small Business Environmental Assistance Program will be sponsoring a Web cast on May 29 th to provide additional information to potential participants.