Small spills of pollutants no longer have to be reported to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment under a new state policy.
Companies or other responsible parties used to have to alert the agency to pollutant spills of any size. But the new policy sets minimum quantities for what needs to be reported. The state agency says the new rules bring Kansas in step with federal law and neighboring states.
“Previously, all chemical spills were required to be reported to KDHE even if the spill was of a volume that was of such low risk as to pose no risk to human or animal health or the environment — such as a gallon of paint,” wrote Randy Stookey, the senior vice president of government affairs for the Kansas Grain and Feed Association and the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association, in an email to KMUW.
“Such a reporting system caused confusion for regulated persons.”
But some Wichitans dealing with contamination in their own backyards said the new rule doesn’t consider the well-being of residents.
“What they’ve done is best for the corporations, not for the communities,” said Aujanae Bennett, the neighborhood association leader for Northeast Millair. Many in the Wichita neighborhood learned in 2022 about a 2.9 mile-long plume of contaminated groundwater beneath it.
In 2021, the Legislature passed a law directing KDHE to establish minimum reportable quantities for pollution spills. In March, KDHE finalized the new set of rules, which designated Kansas’ minimum spill reporting quantities as those set by the federal government. Oil spills of less than 25 gallons, or liquid fertilizer spills of less than 100 gallons, no longer have to be reported – unless they’re in waters of the state or occur within 90 days of each other and exceed the new limits.
The change will reduce costs and paperwork for KDHE, the agency wrote in an economic impact statement, adding that the number of spill reports will drop by 10 to 25 percent as a result. Even if the spills aren’t reported, the regulations still require those responsible for the pollution to clean it up.
“Many of these releases are minor in volume and the regulated community is well adept at cleaning up the releases completely and without oversight,” the KDHE wrote in an economic impact statement.
The 2021 legislation also established a fine of up to $5,000 for violating the new rules, such as failing to report or clean up a spill when necessary.
At least two neighborhoods in Wichita — Bennett’s near 29th and Grove, and another called Forest Hills near Douglas and Webb — learned of contaminated groundwater underneath their homes in the past several years. Residents from both neighborhoods said they didn’t know until recently about the contamination, which has been there for decades.
Two residents from those neighborhoods said KDHE’s move away from required reporting, even if just for small spills, isn’t a positive step for their already frustrated neighborhoods.
“In my mind, they’re not following through with the big spills,” said Jason Britain, a resident of Forest Hills. “So, it doesn’t matter if it’s a large spill or big spill, I’m not impressed with their follow-up and their follow-through.”
The groundwater plume beneath Bennett’s neighborhood is contaminated with a chemical called trichloroethene, a human carcinogen. The KDHE conducted a health study in the affected neighborhoods in 2023 and discovered high rates of liver cancer and low birth weights there.
She said the move away from required reporting, even for small spills, is harmful for residents that might have to live with them.
