Breathing easier, Kansas City? Environmental Protection Agency says there’s a reason
The air in the entire Kansas City area is cleaner now than it was as recently as five years ago, the regional branch of the Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday.
For 10 years, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources worked to get the air concentration of sulfur dioxide — a pollutant frequently spewed out by industries burning coal — down to an acceptable level, one that allows the area to meet what is known as the 2010 1-hour sulfur dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standard.
The Kansas side of the metro met that standard when it was set in 2010. But parts of Jackson County had not. But over the last five years, since 2017, the air quality in parts of Jackson County that were not in compliance have since met the the EPA’s standards. The agency on Monday announced the entire Kansas City area is now in compliance.
“We have seen a very large improvement in the air quality that we monitor,” said Andy Hawkins, the EPA’s Region 7 Air Quality Planning Branch Chief, “especially on the Missouri side.”
The reason for the improvement: A steam generating plant owned by Vicinity Energy near the River Market went from burning coal in 2017 to burning natural gas, the EPA said. The company provides steam to heat numerous buildings downtown, including Bartle Hall.
In 1990 the Clean Air Act was amended, requiring the EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standard for six principal and harmful pollutants. Besides sulfur dioxide, they are carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxide, ground-level ozone and particulate matter of certain sizes.
Air in the Kansas City area had already met the standards for the other five pollutants. Sulfur dioxide was the last one to meet the standard.
“This is just a snapshot in time,” Hawkins said, “but currently the area is totally attaining all criteria.”
That’s good news, the EPA notes. Sulfur dioxide can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult, particularly for children, the elderly and those with asthma. High concentrations can damage trees and plants, the EPA notes, by hurting their foliage.
In parts of Jackson County in 2011, as much as 6,899 tons of sulfur dioxide was being emitted into the air. In 2013, parts of Jackson County were found to be in non-compliance. But by 2017, that annual amount was slashed by nearly 98% to 158 tons. Over the last three years, a Jackson County monitoring station has measured sulfur dioxide at 7 parts per billion, well below the national standard of 75 parts per billion.
“This is great news for communities across the Kansas City metro and everyone who has worked hard to ensure residents can breathe clean, fresh air,” Angela Markley, a commissioner with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, said in a written statement. Markley is the co-hair of the region’s Air Quality Forum.
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 3:44 PM.
