Public consultation on the draft anti-smog resolution for the Malopolska Region

The Malopolska Region Management Board adopted a draft anti-smog resolution for the Malopolska Region. This is a document which, from mid-next-year, is to introduce a complete ban on the burning of coal muds and floatation concentrates in furnaces and fireplaces throughout the region and eliminating the installation of boilers that do not meet ecodesign standards.

The most important assumptions of the anti-smog resolution for the Malopolska Region is the limitation of the creation of new low emission sources and the ban on the installation of the so-called “smokers”, boilers that do not meet any emission standards. The resolution also intends to introduce a ban on using coal muds and floatation concentrates and wet wood (with a moisture content of over 20%) from July 2017. At the moment, 800 000 tons of coal muds, coal waste – mainly in the Malopolska and Silesian Regions – are for sales. As a result, more than 98% of the inhabitants of the region breathe the air exceeding the permissible levels of carcinogenic benzo (a) pyrene up to 10 times, and over 4 000 people die each year from diseases caused by the polluted air. The cost of treatment for patients with air pollution and their absence from work is estimated at PLN 3 billion per year.

Residents will have time by the end of 2022 to comply with the provisions of the existing heating system and if the boiler meets the emission requirements of at least at the level of class 3, this period will be extended by the end of 2026.

The content of the draft resolution is available at www.powietrze.malopolska.pl/antysmogowa. Comments and proposals for the draft document can be addressed by January 5, 2017, using the e-mail: [email protected] or in a written form to: the Marshal Office of the Malopolska Region, Environment Department, 56 Racławicka, 30-017 Krakow.