Posted on 03/01/2008 10:27:38 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Mention air pollution, and what comes to mind? Factories. Oil refineries. Auto tailpipes.
Now Bay Area smog regulators are trying to crack down on another source that they say is just as significant, even if beloved: home fireplaces.
Citing growing medical research that soot causes more severe health problems than was previously realized, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is proposing a ban on all wood burning in fireplaces and wood stoves in the nine Bay Area counties during winter "Spare the Air" nights.
--snip--
If approved, fireplace police would enforce the rules, and neighbors would be encouraged to report neighbors.
"We understand a crackling fire is a long-held tradition of American family life," said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the air district, based in San Francisco.
"But traditions need to be changed when there is information showing that our health and our neighbors' health are impacted."
--snip--
Supporters compare wood smoke dangers to that of cigarette smoke, and note natural gas fires are much cleaner. Critics call the proposal bureaucracy run amok.
--snip--
Kathy Voss-Jensen and Joel Jensen favor the rules. Three years ago, the Redwood City couple got a new neighbor who burns wood nearly every winter day despite their requests to limit it.
"It's very noxious and irritating," she said. "We have to keep our windows closed tight for several hours a day. And we have to keep them closed all night."
Others say the proposal goes too far.
"I think this is a precursor to banning all wood burning. It is a camel's nose under the tent," said Steve Drenker, a Los Altos sales manager whose 1950s ranch home has a fireplace.
Drenker burns only dry oak, he said, and his fires do not smoke up the neighborhood.
(Excerpt) Read more at origin.mercurynews.com ...
Good to run into you as well.
Actually I don’t have a fireplace but I will fight to the death to protect your right to have one.
It is such a beautiful day here in Alabama that I am going to go sit on the back porch and talk to my wife while the dog poops all over the backyard.
Keepem straight in here.
Later
I predicted several years ago that they'd maxed out taxation, so they'd have to start raising the prices of essentials, utilities and fuel.
So, those things you listed as "expensive" just have a tax added on, only it's an opaque tax.
Make them stop because all the smoke they generate flows into the Central Valley thorough the Carqueniz Straits. We don’t want it!
Wife and I spent the morning splitting oak firewood. We’re going to burn every damned piece of it.
Stories like this make me so glad I left California for Nevada. The loons will stop at nothing. First smoking, now fireplaces, next your car and your freedom to travel.
Soooo glad I left Kalifornistan.
If you have a religion, it helps if it’s right side up.
Just put in a natural gas fireplace, install a diverter and you can heat a couple of rooms with it. Looks pretty, and you don’t have to haul wood in. Heck, if you have a remote control you don’t have to get up off the couch, or out of the bed!
>> winter “Spare the Air” nights.
Is this before or after the “Grab your ankles for the Gov’t” week?
Didn't you know, the farts of the people who live in San Francisco don't smell. Just ask them, they'll tell you!
Nazis.
In this community, we have the smoke police, the smoking police, the tree and bush police, the noise police, the cell phone police, the seat belt police, the water use police, the recycling police, the "DWI" unit, the "domestic violence unit", the "party patrol", automated red light and speeding cameras imposing fines twice what would be assessed if there were a real cop involved.
Meanwhile, we also have "checkpoints" for driver license, insurance, registration, seat belt and child safety seat violations.
We also have judges who dispose of all of the above for friends, family members, LEO and the politically-connected.
I am out of here. The only question I have is "Where do I go"?
Colombia, Costa Rica, Albania?
The citizens of Iraq have more casual freedoms than we do.
THere’s only one reason I can think of to ban fireplaces. It’s because they can’t put a tax on firewood. Every other kind of fuel can be taxed easily.
This is not unique to California. Albuquerque, for example, has had no burn nights for at least 15 years.
One of the many reasons I'm leaving.
None of their business.
We need to counter with “Spare Me Your Bullsh*t Nights!”
The only thing I recycle (put into the recycle bins given to us by our township)is beer bottles. The only reason we do that is because they tend to make the trashbag leak which is icky.
And we recycle cans when we have parties just because it’s easier to fill the recyle containers with them.
We used to have “recycle police” that would check our trash but that stopped when they made us all use township trashcans and an automated thing picks them up while the driver stays in the truck.
Probably wears a safety helmet in the shower, too.
Huh. It's getting downright Nazi out there.
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