Kansas Environmental News

Winter/Spring 2012   

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Thank you for registering to receive electronic communications from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's (KDHE) Pollution Prevention and Small Business Environmental Assistance Programs.  KDHE is pleased to publish this Winter/Spring issue of Kansas Environmental News. We encourage you to share the newsletter with co-workers and friends to assist us in developing the e-mail contact list. Simply click the "Forward Email" button at the bottom of the page. 

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If you have any comments or recommendations on how to improve the e-Newsletter, feel free to e-mail Cathy Colglazier at [email protected]

In This Issue
Regulatory Agenda
K-State Pollution Prevention Intern Program
Pollution Prevention (P2) Awards
Five Steps to Determine Whether Your Facility Needs an Air Permit
KDHE to Host Annual Works! Conference
Open Burning in Kansas
EPA Develops Informational Videos for Gas Distribution NESHAP and National Air Toxics Assessment
GHG Tailoring Rule and Pollution Prevention
Upcoming Events

KDHE Division of Environment Regulatory Agenda 

 

KDHE's Division of Environment has numerous regulations currently in process. To view the regulatory agenda, click the link below. 

 

DOE Regulatory Agenda

K-State Pollution Prevention Intern Program

by David Carter, K-State Pollution Prevention Institute

 

The Kansas State University Pollution Prevention Institute (PPI) sponsored another successful internship program in 2011, with a record 11 interns helping to save Kansas companies energy, water, and money. The program, funded by two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants, placed primarily engineering students at 20 locations to research pollution prevention projects that would reduce resource consumption, and operational and disposal costs at the facilities.

 

Collectively, the 2011 interns researched more than 65 projects and identified potential savings of more than 8 million kWh of electricity; 20 million gallons of water; 339 tons of waste and $827,000 in operating/disposals costs. Participating companies included Residence Inn by Marriott, Overland Park; Hill's Pet Nutrition, Topeka; CST Storage, Parsons; Kansas Army National Guard, Topeka; Via Christi Hospitals, Wichita; Associated Purchasing Services, Overland Park; Schwan's Global Supply Chain, Salina; Bombardier Aerospace Learjet, Wichita; Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, Horton; Gates Corporation, Iola; and Mercy Regional Health Center, Manhattan.

 

Many student participants saw their projects being implemented before the end of the 10-week internships. One intern's project, which dealt with researching and identifying a less-toxic chemical to replace toluene, actually resulted in the company replacing the chemical at not only the intern's location, but in all of its plants throughout the U.S. Due to the success of their projects, two of the interns presented their research in professional settings - one at the Kansas Environmental Conference and the other on a national Practice Green Health Webinar.

 

Over the past six years of this beneficial PPI intern program, students have identified potential savings of more than 57 million kWh of electricity; 496,000 therms of natural gas; 264 million gallons of water; 9,000 tons of solid waste and $8 million in operating/disposal costs. PPI is ramping up its 2012 intern program now and will send interns out into the field in June 2012.

 

Additional information, business applications, and past case studies can be found on the PPI website at www.sbeap.org/intern-program. If you have questions regarding the program, contact Nancy Larson at [email protected], (316) 660-0104, or David Carter at [email protected], (785) 532-4998.

KDHE Solicits Pollution Prevention (P2) Award Applications

 

KDHE presents the annual P2 awards to individuals, communities or community groups, businesses and industries who have made a significant impact in protecting our environment by preventing pollution and/or conserving resources. The application form is available on the P2 award website. Don't miss this opportunity to obtain recognition for all of your hard work! Applications are due Friday, June 22. Contact Cathy Colglazier at 800-357-6087 if you have any questions on the awards program.

Five Steps to Determine Whether Your Facility Needs an Air Permit

 

Two main types of permits are issued under the Kansas Air Quality Act - construction permits and operating permits. Construction permits are applicable to projects (new emission units and/or modification of existing emission units) and operating permits are applicable to the entire facility. In other words, for construction permits/approvals, the facility would be required to evaluate the increase in potential to emit (PTE) and applicable requirements for the project only. For operating permits, the facility would be required to evaluate the PTE and applicable requirements for the entire facility.

 

New or existing facilities that add new emission sources or modify existing emission sources of air pollutants (e.g., a new paint booth or a new natural gas oven), must evaluate these new or modified emission sources to determine whether they need a construction permit or approval. During preconstruction review, KDHE Bureau of Air (BOA) ensures that proposed construction projects at new and existing facilities can meet applicable Kansas and federal air quality requirements. A construction permit or approval is required BEFORE a facility can install and operate a new source or modify an existing source of air pollutants.

 

The second type of permit - a Class I or II air operating permit - is required for major sources of air pollutants. A major source is defined as a facility with the potential to annually emit:

  • 10 tons or more of any hazardous air pollutant (HAP).
  • 25 tons or more of any combination of HAPs.
  • 100 tons or more of any other regulated air pollutant including sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM10), lead (Pb) and volatile organic compounds (VOC).
  • 100,000 tons or more of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e).

Air regulations can be complex and confusing to many business owners, particularly small business owners who frequently do not have the same resources to devote to environmental compliance as larger businesses. Consequently, the Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (SBEAP), in conjunction with KDHE BOA, has developed a fact sheet to describe in five steps how to determine whether your facility requires an air construction approval or permit, or an air operating permit. For complete information on each step, view the full fact sheet titled Five Steps to Determining Whether Your Facility Needs an Air Permit.

KDHE to Host Annual WORKS! Conference

 

The 18th Annual WORKS! Conference will be held March 27 - 29 in Dodge City, Kansas. The event focuses on Household Hazardous Waste, Recycling/Waste Reduction, Composting and Energy from Waste topics. This year nationally acclaimed experts will be in attendance and deliver keynote presentations including: Jerry Powel of Resource Recycling, Jeremy O'Brien with the Solid Waste Association of North America, and Bob Rynk of the State University of New York.

 

Also, special 'Hands On' workshops will give attendees a unique opportunity to investigate the following topics:

  • Waste Characterization Study and Audit
  • Energy from Waste case studies
  • Hands On HHW training

The Conference will be held at the new Magouirk Conference Center in Dodge City.

 

To find out more, including exhibitor and registration information, go to www.kdheks.gov/waste/workshops/works12/works12regflyerweb.pdf or call us at 785-296-1600.

Open Burning in Kansas

by Nancy Larson, Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program 

 

An integral part of our history, open burning in Kansas has likely been practiced since the time when the oceans receded and prairie grasses emerged across the Great Plains. Fast forward to the 21st century...we now have regulations in place to better manage or prevent open burning activities for the sake of minimizing the overall amount of contaminants released into the air, promoting a healthier living environment for us all. Not only does burning release very fine particulate matter into the air contributing to regional haze problems, other typical contaminants introduced into the atmosphere include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and potentially other hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). These contaminants, when released into the air from open burning activities, impact respiratory health, especially in sensitive populations such as children and the elderly.

 

Although incidental open burning on residential premises is not regulated, open burning of wastes, structures, vegetation or other materials by commercial operations, like a business, is prohibited unless the commercial operation is granted special permission by ........read more

EPA Develops Informational Videos for Gas Distribution NESHAP and National Air Toxics Assessment

 

Gas Distribution NESHAP 6C (Stage I) - EPA has developed an informational video describing "Stage I" gasoline storage tank filling control requirements. These requirements result from the Gas Distribution NESHAP 6C Rule. This 22 minute video is intended to educate 57,000 Gas Distribution Facility owner/operators affected by the NESHAP 6C Rule and to encourage them to apply for their Stage I compliance inspection. The video explains what a NESHAP is, why it exists, the general requirements of the 6C rule and which specific businesses are affected.

 

The video details that the purpose of the rule is to regulate the gasoline vapors that are emitted when a storage tank is filled (Stage I). It also explains the equipment and testing requirements (pressure/vacuum vent valves and static pressure of tanks); best management practices and highlights the fittings and adaptors needed to properly capture gasoline vapors during unloading.

 

The video can be accessed at www.epa.gov/apti/video/GasDistributionNESHAPVideo0112.html.

 

National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) - This set of eight video modules includes an overview, demonstration of how to navigate results, and examples of how the assessment is used. These modules range in length from 2 to 12 minutes running time.

 

As background, NATA identifies and prioritizes air toxics, emission source types, and locations that are of greatest potential concern in terms of contributing to population risk. EPA uses the results of these assessments in many ways, including:

  • To work with communities in designing their own local-scale assessments.
  • To set priorities for improving data in emissions inventories.
  • To help direct priorities for expanding and improving the network of air toxics monitoring.

The video can be accessed at www.epa.gov/apti/video/NATAVideo1011.html.

GHG Tailoring Rule and Pollution Prevention

by David Carter, Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program 

 

On July 1, 2011, step two of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule went into effect. At that time, an existing minor stationary source may become a major source and thus subject to Class I Operating Permit (Title V) permitting requirements. This is to be solely based on the source's GHG emissions, provided they exceed threshold values established in the Tailoring Rule.

 

GHG-emitting stationary sources that do not have a Class I permit, and which emit or have a PTE of at least 100,000 tons per year (TPY) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) and also emit or have a PTE of at least 100 TPY of GHGs on a mass basis, are required to do one of the following:

  • Apply for a Class I permit by July 1, 2012.
  • Voluntarily limit CO2e emissions to below 100,000 TPY, plus apply for and receive a Class II permit by July 1.

This voluntary limitation is where pollution prevention practices enter the picture. The objective of pollution prevention is to reduce emissions at the source by changing the material, process or technology. In this case, the source would typically need to limit its hours of operation, or limit the fuel-firing rate or amount of fuel used, in order to limit GHGs to less than 100,000 TPY. In some cases, the source may also be able to change its type of fuel to a cleaner-burning choice (e.g., from diesel to natural gas). The Class II permit would contain appropriate monitoring and recordkeeping requirements to ensure compliance with the CO2e permit limit. If a facility currently has a Class II Operating permit and can voluntarily take limits to avoid a Class I permit, it must apply for and receive a modification to its current Class II permit to limit GHGs to less than major source thresholds.

 

KDHE Bureau of Air provided outreach last year at workshops and conferences. However, KDHE has received very few permit applications from sources that may fall into these categories, and thus believes a significant number of sources may not be aware of the GHG Tailoring Rule requirements.

 

As a general rule, if you have equipment such as boilers or reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE) that consume natural gas at a maximum rate of 196 million BTU/hr (MMBTU/hr) or diesel fuel at a rate of 140 MMBTU/hr, this rule might apply to your facility. Facilities with coal-burning equipment could fall under this rule if they reach a total heat input of approximately 106 MMBTU/hr. Remember, PTE is based on potential emissions, not actual emissions.

 

If you think your facility may be subject to the GHG Tailoring Rule, submit a Class II application (or a request to modify a Class II application) immediately, since the Class II permit must be issued (or modified) by July 1, 2012, to avoid Title V applicability for a Class I permit.

 

The Kansas Small Business Environmental Assistance Program (SBEAP) can provide free technical assistance in regard to calculating PTE and submitting Class II applications for small- to medium-sized businesses. Contact SBEAP at 800-578-8898 or [email protected], or visit our website at www.sbeap.org.

Upcoming Events 

 

Kansas Works! Conference

March 27 - 29

Dodge City

Mark your calendars to attend the 2012 Works! Conference.  Information is available at www.kdheks.gov/waste/workshops/works12/works12regflyerweb.pdf.

 

Kansas SBEAP to Host Noon Webinars for the Printing Industry

In partnership with the Printing Industries of America, the Kansas SBEAP will host a series of three Webinars over the noon hour for the printing industry. Employers are encouraged to gather their staff, order lunch, and tune in for these 50-minute sessions that will help printers answer the following questions:

  • How can I make my practices more sustainable, reduce emissions, and save money?
  • When is it legal for me to evaporate my waste solvents or inks?
  • What is the right way to handle used solvent rags?
  • Is there a compliance assistance checklist?
  • What is the Sustainable Green Printers Partnership?
  • How do I track my solvent emissions to determine if I need an air permit?
  • What type of air emissions record keeping should I be maintaining?
  • How can I learn more about free, confidential site visits offered by SBEAP?

Register for any or all three of the sessions at www.sbeap.org. There is no cost for the training, but pre-registration is required. Each session will start at noon.

  • May 3: Non-regulatory resources help you confirm your regulatory status
  • May 10: Reducing operating costs
  • May 17: Sustainable green printing helps one Kansas printer increase business by 15 percent

Kansas Environmental Conference

August 7 - 9

Wichita Hyatt

Mark your calendars to attend the 2012 Kansas Environmental Conference.  Look for the conference agenda the first of June at www.kdheks.gov/sbcs/environment_conf.html.

 

 

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Are you a small business that has questions regarding compliance with environmental regulations or permits? Don't hesitate to call Kansas State University's Small Business Environmental Assistance Program for free, confidential technical assistance! Simply call 800-578-8898 or visit www.sbeap.org.

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Our Vision
Healthy Kansans living in safe and sustainable environments.

Our Mission
To protect and improve the health and environment of all Kansans.