And Exhaust pipes are just like Chimneys
Posted on 01/24/2015 7:09:05 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
In an effort to improve air quality across Utah during the winter season, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has proposed a seasonal wood burn ban, much to the chagrin of many locals.
The ban would eliminate solid fuel burning in fireplaces and wood/coal stoves from Nov. 1 to March 15, except for homeowners whose homes are heated solely by wood.
The proposal comes after Gov. Gary Herbert requested the the Air Quality Board explore options for improving wintertime air quality along Utah's Wasatch Front and Cache Valley.
The region suffers from winter temperature inversions, which occur when a dense layer of cold air becomes trapped under a layer of warm air.
The warm layer of air acts like a lid, trapping pollutants underneath. The Wasatch Front valleys and their surrounding mountains act like a bowl, keeping this cold air in the valleys.
The snow-covered valley floors reflect rather than absorb the heat from the sun, preventing the normal vertical mixing of warm and cold air.
"Additionally, high pressure sitting over the region during the wintertime results in light winds, that just aren't sufficient for mixing the air," AccuWeather.com Expert Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.
"The inversion just stays trapped."
The longer an inversion lasts, the higher the level of trapped pollution.
According to the DEQ, the areas included in the proposed ban routinely violate the federal health-based standard for particulate matter, and solid fuel burning has been found to be a significant contributor to fine particulate pollution.
Though mandatory burn ban days already exist for this region during wintertime inversions, a full-fledged seasonal ban is opposed by many.
According to Utahns for Responsible Burning, an organization strongly opposed to a seasonal ban: "The Utah Department of Environmental Quality estimates that wood smoke is approximately 5% of this problem. Even if burning is completely banned, it won't solve the valley's brown cloud."
Car exhaust, factory emissions and other pollutants contribute to the region's poor air quality.
The organization believes that the ban punishes citizens who invested in newer, cleaner burning stoves and will be a disincentive for others to upgrade to more environmentally responsible hearth products.
Others say that the cost of using an alternative form of heat is too great.
"I know many families that will be impacted. I know families that will have to choose between food and keeping their families warm," Utah resident Debi Rosenlund Brozovich said.
"No business or industry has ever been asked to reduce pollution by 100 percent."
In an effort to make the ban more affordable to local residents, the DEQ has agreed to subsidize the costs for low-income families. Additionally, it exempts households whose only option for heat is wood burning.
"Homeowners whose homes are heated solely by wood and are registered with DAQ as a sole source residence would be permitted to continue heating with wood," the DEQ said.
On Tuesday, more than 500 people showed up to Brigham City's public hearing. The hearing was one of seven scheduled during the 40-day public comment period, which closes Feb. 9.
Utah Proposes LIGHTNING-CAUSED FOREST FIRE Burning Ban to Improve Air Quality
If not, then the gov could choke on it.
Shut down Romney’s Stericycle baby-burning operation. That’ll solve the problem.
I was thinking along the same lines. The word, "winter", in the headline, was highly superfluous. Interesting how states with small populations (like Utah, Iowa, New Mexico), though conservative across 99.9% of the landscape, are nonetheless dominated by the cities and universities -- those small pinpricks of blue (emphasis on PRICKS) on any electoral map.
Will they burn their Magic Underwear?
“Additionally, it exempts households whose only option for heat is wood burning.”
Think about what that means.
There is no such thing. Everyone has the option of heating with oil or propane. So If you strip out your oil or gas furnace or it does not work does the mean you can now burn wood. Or can they force you install an oil or gas furnace if you don’t have one.
And don’t forget that you have register with the government.
Downdraft that keeps the 'pollution' in the valley ... where the he** do you get that from?
The problem is lack of wind that allows the temperature inversion to set up ... wind of any kind is actually beneficial it disperses the pollutants that cause the inversion.
Will some government agents seek them out? Neighbors rat them out? Then what? Send in the Special Weapons AND Tactics team? BURN their compound down, killing all inside?
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Same here in Maine. Lots of firearms, endless amounts of wood stoves.
If they ever proposed a wood burning ban here, there would be a revolt.
All they need to do is put a bunch of those giant wind turbines all over Utah, and reverse power them. That will circulate the air and get rid of the trapped gases.
Wow, you beat me to it.
(I just got down to your post)
Utahns for Responsible Burning, an organization strongly opposed to a seasonal ban:
-—==0==-—
Opposed=against
(From MAD Magazine LP):
“Heh, heh, heh....We also give away ICE in the wintertime!”
Well, it was a GOOD idea until you effed it all up. Are you from The Government? LOL!
And Exhaust pipes are just like Chimneys
That’s OK. It’s already been discounted by Mr. Know-It-All.
*Rolleyes*
I wonder if this restriction will include those times in the future when the Obama blackouts, due to coal-burning power plants shutting down, will take place on cold winter days.
and if wood is all you can afford,,, then what???
Just for grins and giggles, demand the next hearing be held in an unheated room.
We already have this in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s illegal to burn today and tomorrow. Earlier this month we had 11 consecutive days where burning wasn’t allowed. There are something like 70 enforcement agents. Not to mention neighbor turning in neighbor. First violation is $100 or go to reeducation session. Subsequent violations are $500.
Now they’re talking about banning barbecues and meat smokers on “spare the air” days. Sheesh, how many BBQs and meat smokers are being used Nov thru Feb when these no-burn days are in effect? http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/01/19/bbqs-meat-smokers-could-be-banned-on-spare-the-air-days/
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.