Posted on 03/07/2008 7:20:29 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Air regulators have approved new restrictions that will limit the use of fireplaces in four Southern California counties.
The regulations approved Friday include no-burn days and a ban on the building of wood-burning fireplaces in new homes, are intended to reduce pollution.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District estimates that the 1.4 million fireplaces in the region emit more than four times the amount of harmful emission than from all the power plants.
South Coast Air Quality Management District
http://www.aqmd.gov/
from an LA Times piece
Southland air district limits fireplace use
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fireplace8mar08,0,4485269.story
Builders will be banned from installing wood-burning fireplaces in new homes, and it will be illegal to buy and install one when remodeling a home. Gas-burning fireplaces will be allowed.
Restaurants with wood-fired ovens, such as California Pizza Kitchen, will not be affected by daily bans. Nor will homeowners who rely on a fireplace for heat, or who have properties at an elevation above 3,000 feet.
Coastal areas that don’t experience as many high-pollution days probably will be unaffected. Beach fires and ceremonial fires used by tribes also will be allowed.
Do NOT burn renewable wood! Only burn non-renewable natural gas. For the Chillrun. Or the environment. Or just because we like jerking your chain, citizen!!
why any one would want to live in that state is beyond my imagination
It grows more difficult by the day.
Trust me; were it not for our kids’ grandparents being so close, we’d be loadin’ up the truck, and headin’ east.
These people have to be stopped before they just suck all the joy out of life.
must be tough.....time heals all wounds
Otherwise known as stupid
I’ve been in numerous homes where the residents prefered burning wood and merely removed the ceramic logs from the grate of the gas log set, banished them to the garage and used the gas burner as a log lighter for their crackling, wood scented, tree recycling, genuine split log fires. Oh, and good luck to the AQMD when poor air quality is forecast for a Thanksgiving or Christmas day.
On the other hand, the air in southern California is a lot better now than it was 30 years ago when there were days you couldn’t go outside without your eyes tearing and your nose, throat and lungs burning.
The AQMDs are as much of a Stalinist bureaucracy as thing old Joe ever thought of.
I have to deal with them, and CARB. I know.
Isn’t it strange that they pass these laws that are aimed at Americans when the entire Los Angeles area is saturated with illegal aliens. I mean, they don’t know what a stop sign is, how are they to know what day they are allowed to burn something in the fireplace. These people get flyers telling them about free bulk item pickups but still dump there trash in front of my house because it looks better there. I have noticed that the only people getting pulled over by the police are people that don’t look Hispanic. This place is a disaster yet environmentalist still think people care about the environment. Mexicans don’t care, they are here to make a buck.
Should we burn old tires instead?
“California is a lot better now than it was 30 years ago when there were days you couldn’t go outside without your eyes tearing and your nose, throat and lungs burning.”
You’re right, People don’t realize how poluted the air was when I was younger. The worst days of now don’t compare to the best days of our past. I can remember stopping my bycycle in the early 60’s because my eyes were tearing. I can remember not being able to see the mountains all summer long.
I understand your how you feel.I was born and raised in San Diego.We packed up and moved to North Carolina in 1993 and it was the best decision we ever made.
I was born and raised in San Francisco. Our home was on a hillside facing downtown, with an expansive view. 50 years ago everyone burned their combustible trash in steel barrels in the back yard on Sundays, and all the non-burnable wet garbage was put out at the curb for pickup. It was quite a site seeing multiple plumes of smoke from all the backyards (a lot of homes don't have fireplaces because the weather is mild in SF).
The burning stopped in the 1960's. Now everyone has multiple recycle bins to put outside, and we have to sort everything.
Compliance has been difficult to achieve as the cost of natural gas skyrocketed in the state. In the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin, authorities had to resort to fireplace police, sulking around after dark, armed with infrared sensors because the local Air Boards failed to motivate neighbors to rat on each other.
The cost of natural gas or butane or propane is so prohibative folks have actually ducted chimneys below the roof line using a small electric fan to diffuse the smoke and infared radiation horizontally. The smoke can't be seen in the valley ground fog, leaving the fireplace cops wondering where the smoky odor originates.
Last October in the same area a forest fire raged, burning over 11 million trees or ten times as many trees as fireplaces that sat idle for four days.
This happens roughly every year around a 500 mile radius with the blessing of the local air quality people and the save the planet group.
A household fireplace will burn one log (about 100 per tree) in an hour and we are expected to believe that there is an equivalency to a fully regulated power plant?
Do you have any idea how often people in So. Cal light their wood firplace?
It’s all gas logs and artifice, just like the rest of the state.
This is turning out to be a bad joke on those whose backs have not yet dried.
What makes you think they care about your happiness or well-being at all?
They're after control, and nothing else.
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