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Minutes for HB2575 - Committee on Agriculture
Short Title
Amending the Kansas drycleaner environmental response act to change the required deductible rate and penalty fine amount.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 17, 2020
The Chair open the hearing on HB2575 at 3:32pm.
Kyle Hamilton, Assistant Revisor, Office of The Revisor of Statutes, provided an overview of HB2575 and the statutes that it affects. (Attachment 1) There is a Fiscal Note for HB2575.
PROPONENTS
Bob Jurgens, Director, Bureau of Environmental Remediation, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, appeared before the Committee in support of HB2575. (Attachment 2)
As proposed, HB2575 provide four primary changes:
1. Clarifies the definitions of operator. This definition was added to more clearly define the facility operator vs. a real property owner who may not be involved in facility operations;
2. Increases the deductible paid towards the cleanup for the site by operators of contaminated dry-cleaning facilities and property owners who benefited financially from the operation of the contaminated dry-cleaning facility;
3. Provides additional funding to the Drycleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund (Fund) to respond to contamination attributed to retail dry cleaning facilities in a more-timely manner; and
4. Increases the maximum penalties for dry cleaning facility operators who fail to collect and submit the gross receipts environmental surcharge; as well as solvent distributors who fail to collect and pay the per-gallon solvent fee.
The dry-cleaning industry has seen a transition to greener cleaning methods. Unfortunately, many historic and current dry cleaner facilities were already contaminated due to historic practices that were considered acceptable in the past. Approximately $27.5 million in receipts have been collected over the past 24 years. The bureau has spent nearly $27.4 million during that time managing the program and assessing, remediating and monitoring over 160 contaminated sites with a total of 186 sites needing cleanup.
Unfortunately, the decline in revenue coincides with a continued rise in the number of sites needing cleanup as historical releases of dry-cleaning solvents are discovered. Over $60 million is projected as a need to complete final assessments, monitor contamination and implement remediation systems to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater. The enhanced funding will allow the bureau to identify and clean up contaminated sites in a more-timely manner, thereby preventing future generations from being impacted by contamination. The fund has also been effective in promoting redevelopment of contaminated properties. HB2575 will help Kansas maintain this important program and retain control over its implementation.
Mr Jurgen stood for questions from the Committee.
Chuck Brewer, Engineer, Geotechnical Engineering, appeared before the Committee in support of HB2575. (Attachment 3) GSI Engineering and I would like to give our full support to the modifications proposed in HB2575. GSI Engineering has been involved with the assessment, cleanup and public water hookup associated with many of the dry cleaner sites in the State. As many of you are aware, over the last five years in the Wichita area there has been a couple of very complex environmentally contaminated sites associated with former dry cleaning operations (Four Season's and Haysville). These two sites alone have negatively impacted a large number of households by contaminating private drinking water wells and property values. In the State of Kansas, there are still many households using water wells for their drinking water supply (even in a highly developed city like Wichita). Just one of these large sites can and has depleted the dry cleaning funds available to protect the health and safety of the residences of the State.
Mr Brewer stood for questions from the Committee.
Stephen R. Hoffine, Engineer, Burns & McDonnell, appeared before the Committee in support of HB2575. (Attachment 4) While the program has made significant strides in addressing known sites, there are a still significant number of sites that require assessment and remediation. HB2575 provides necessary changes and funding to the Dry Cleaner Program to insure that KDHE's mission of protecting and restoring our very important groundwater resources by completing the necessary assessments, remediation, and monitoring in a timely manner can be sustained into the future. Without the additional funding to allow KDHE to perform these services, communities and residents in Kansas who rely on groundwater for their primary source of drinking water, may not be adequately protected from the impact of environmental contamination due to a lack of resources necessary to identify and complete the assessments, remediation and monitoring.
Mr Hoffine stood for questions from the Committee.
Randy DeWitt, Assistant Director of Public Works, Manhattan KS, appeared before the Committee in support of HB2575. (Attachment 5) In 2002, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) finalized the Environmental Site Assessment that determined that chlorinated solvent chemical spills, originating from two (2) dry cleaning businesses, had contaminated the groundwater and posed a significant potential threat to a portion of Manhattan's public water supply. Subsequent bio-remediation efforts occurred from 2005 and 2015. These efforts, funded through the Kansas Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund were critically important to ensuring that the much of the contamination was contained within the proximity of the source.
In 2016, unfortunately it became apparent that a plume of vinyl chloride, which is a degradant of the parent contaminants, had migrated past the bio-remediation site, with the leading edge of the plume being detected in monitoring wells that are a mere 500 linear feet up-gradient from one of Manhattan's public water supply wells, Well No. 13. Again, KDHE responded quickly by studying the extents and severity of the plume, and commencing the design of bio-sparging remediation project intended to eliminate the vinyl chloride plume and protect the City's water supply.
Mr DeWitt stood for questions from the Committee.
Written only testimony in support of HB2575 was received from William Black, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Haysville KS. (Attachment 6)
There are no Opponents or Neutrals of HB2575.
The Chair closed the hearing on HB2575 at 4:15pm.
