Frequently Asked Questions
Air Compliance and Permitting Issues

Air program staff in the DNR's five regions handle compliance and permitting issues. Their daily work involves a lot of customer service, including responding to citizen complaints and answering questions. Here are some topics that DNR regional staff deal with frequently. Click on any item to go to the response for that topic.

Burning

• Can I burn my old house/barn?
• Can my small business burn pallets and cardboard in our back parking lot?
• My neighbor is burning garbage and plastics in his burn barrel or outdoor wood burner. Is he allowed to do this?

Disposal

• I keep hearing things about Freon and CFCs. How can I get rid of my old appliances?

Dust

• A highway crew is tearing up the road in front of my house and the dust is terrible. What can be done?
• Sandblasting at the local body shop is causing dust problems.

Odors

• The local wastewater lagoons stink. Why can't the DNR do something to stop that??
• The neighboring farm really causes some odor when they spread manure. Please make them stop.
• My neighbor has a big pile of garbage/animal waste behind his house and it smells. Can the DNR make him clean it up?
• The factory down the street from me operates 24 hours a day and the paint fumes are terrible. Can the DNR do anything?
• My neighbor is smoking fish/meat again and the smoke is coming into my house. Can that smoke hurt me or my family?

Permits and Stack Tests

• What is a permit?
• What is a stack test?
• Why do some facilities have permits and others don't?

Comments? Questions? Need more information? Please contact the Public Information Officer in the Bureau of Air Management. If you have a complaint about a local air pollution problem, please note the municipality and county in which the problem is occurring, so we can direct your problem to the appropriate DNR staff.

Public Information || Air Management