Posted on 03/23/2015 10:56:19 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Bay Area air quality regulators are looking to phase out the traditional fireplace and forcing homeowners to swap out their wood-burning devices before selling or renting. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is pushing a first-of-its-kind ban on wood-burning devices in any new home construction along with a ban on selling or renting homes with wood-burning fireplaces unless retrofitted with cleaner-burning devices.
The ban on wood-burning devices in new construction would apply to all devices even if they meet Environmental Protection Agency emission standards.
The proposals would go into effect on November 1st of this year.
Homeowners who want to sell or rent their property would have to pay anywhere from hundreds up to $3,000 or more to retrofit older fireplaces.
Currently, it is against the law to burn wood on so-called Spare The Air nights, when BAAQMD predicts fine particulate pollution will exceed unhealthy levels.
Critics of the proposals say the new rules financially burden homeowners unfairly and don’t address those who flout current wood-burning rules.
Proponents say the rules would help achieve state and federal air quality standards and protect people from the tiny wood particulate matter that can cause heart and lung diseases along with other health effects.
Reason number 197,657 why I don’t live in California.
Says who, exactly? And in what peer-reviewed journals?
You will notice the weasel word, “can”.
It allows the possibility of it being wrong without removing their reason for doing so.
Upgraded my woodstove this year and got one of energy efficient rebates (California...$500 back)
Burns about 2/3 the wood of my last woodstove and leaves better morning coals.
Still hate the energy police here though
I’d personally look at reburning stoves. I don’t know enough to know why they are bad ideas.
Surely few in the Bay Area burn wood to keep warm?
I could see San Franciscans dancing naked in their livingrooms in front of the fire .... and they should probably be punished by the Energy Police
Think thats what I just bought this year....even seems to put out a different /funny smell than all of our previous wood stoves....
Sure is efficient though
BAAQMD, isn’t that the sound a goat makes as it’s Pharting?
In the lingua franca of those who deal with the agency, the acronym is pronounced "bak-mud."
The condition of forests on the SF peninsula demands for use of that material. Burned in stoves, it is less likely to cause asthma than either the smoke of a wildfire or the mold spores from rotting wood. Regulations NEVER compare the consequences of their implementation as a cause of “background pollution,” but they should.
It would be more satisfying to pry your wood stove from the Eco Wienies cold dead arms. :)
Old school? You betcha.
Motivated by, and premised on libtard “science”.
Those people are amazingly stupid.
Bookmark
And come a day, the Bay Area Soviet will cut power and water to no more than three hours a day to preserve the environment and precious natural resources
There’s no better proof of “give them an inch, they’ll take a mile” than leftist government. As soon as the “Spare the Air” program was introduced a few years ago, Mrs. POF and I knew they were gunning for a total ban on wood burning within a decade.
Leftists always plan their totalitarian actions decades in advance. Just look at their long march through all of our institutions for proof (education, religion, family, marriage, health care, self-reliance, Wesern Civilization, weapons, the Constitution, private property).
I wonder if the government taking away your right to sell your property with a wood burning device on it would be a violation of the Takings Clause. They’d probably justify the action on the Clinton argument — “we are going to take things away from you for the common good.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.