'Clean Air for Kentucky' hot air balloon will offer rides on the Capitol lawn

Contact:  Elizabeth Robb 502-573-3382

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 4, 2007) - Start your Derby Day on a high note. Take a ride in a hot air balloon.

The Kentucky Division for Air Quality will celebrate National Air Quality Awareness Week by offering free tethered hot air balloon rides - weather permitting - tomorrow at the Governor’s Derby Breakfast in Frankfort. 

“What better way to celebrate clean air for Kentucky than by riding in a hot air balloon?” asked Department for Environmental Protection Commissioner Cheryl Taylor.  Propane, the fuel for all hot air balloons, is a great example of an alternative fuel that burns cleaner and greener than traditional fuels, minimizing pollution and creating healthier air for Kentuckians.

“A number of propane-fueled vehicles are available today.  Mammoth Cave National Park currently has a fleet of propane-fueled buses, which are being used to minimize haze problems that have plagued the park,” Taylor said.

“I am pleased to sponsor the Clean Air for Kentucky balloon as a culminating event for the 2007 National Air Quality Awareness Week in Kentucky,” stated John Lyons, director of the Division for Air Quality.  “I hope the weather holds so we will be able to offer the opportunity to ride in the balloon and to remind Kentuckians that each one of us has the ability to make choices that will benefit air quality,” he said.

For more information or tips on actions that you can take to help air quality, visit the Division for Air Quality Web site at http://www.air.ky.gov.  The balloon will fly from about 8-10 a.m., unless wind or rains pose a safety threat.