Posted on 12/06/2007 7:48:27 AM PST by SmithL
In a decision opposed by many restaurant owners, the board agreed Wednesday to require emission controls on open-grill restaurant charbroilers -- such those in larger dining establishments like Black Angus and Applebee's -- that cook high volumes of steaks, hamburgers and other beef.
Clean air agencies elsewhere are watching the rule -- the first of its kind in the nation by a regional air district.
Bay Area air regulators say the controls will reduce public exposure to fine soot particles, which can cause asthma and bronchitis problems, heart attacks and strokes, and stunted lung development in children.
"I like to eat at some of these restaurants with charbroilers, but the fine particles they produce is a health concern," said Mark Ross, a Martinez city councilman who heads the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board.
The rule will be expensive, costing restaurants about $30,000 or more to install scrubbers and filters to comply, plus more money to operate them, the California Restaurant Association said.
"This rule is not cost-effective," Johnnise Foster Downs, the restaurant association's director of local government affairs, told the nine-county air board at its meeting in San Francisco. "Why don't they go after the bigger sources of particulates first, like diesel trucks and vehicles?"
Air district engineers say commercial charbroilers emit 6.9 tons a day of fine soot particles and 1.1 tons a day of smog-forming gases.
Most Bay Area restaurants would be exempt from the rule because their grill size or beef use falls below a threshold aimed at regulating only the highest-polluting restaurants, officials said.
Beef was singled out because its higher fat content produces more fine particles when the juices flare up on a hot grill.
Steakhouses or other restaurants with open, slotted charbroiler grills heated from below would be regulated if they cook 800 pounds of beef a week and the grill is at least 10 square feet in size. This is the part of the rule that is unique, according to Jack Broadbent, the air district executive officer.
Fast-food restaurants with chain-driven charbroilers that heat hamburgers from above and below on a conveyer belt would require controls if they cook 400 pounds a week, according to the rule. Chain-driven charbroilers already are regulated by pollution districts in the Los Angeles, San Joaquin Valley and Ventura air basins.
About 200 Bay Area restaurants with underfired charbroilers, including Black Angus and Applebee's, would be affected by the rule on Jan 1, 2013, air district engineers said.
About 450 restaurants with chain-driven charbroilers, including Burger King and Carl's Jr., would require filters by Jan. 1, 2009. McDonald's is exempt because it cooks its hamburgers on large griddles.
To avoid the steep cost of new filters, Vic Stewart's steakhouse in Walnut Creek may switch to cooking steaks in an ovenlike broiler drawer with flames above the meat, said Tyler Dwyer, the head chef.
"Thirty five thousand dollars for a filter is painful," Dwyer said Wednesday.
Dwyer said he's not happy about the new rule. However, he said the taste of steaks will be as good if they're cooked in the broiler drawers. "We're looking into our options," he said.
Wackos will NEVER be satisfied. Well, maybe they will be happy when we all eat a raw diet of tofu and fruit.
That's the spirit! I'm sure George Foreman and his five sons, George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI, will back you up on that
Wait until you have to have scrubbers on your back yard grill!! Government mandated and approved...
And spend the entire afternoon in the can.
Can someone explain this to me? Even if 1 pound of beef somehow produced 1 pound of fine soot, that means that the restaurant is serving some 13,800 pounds of beef a day?
I believe the numbers represent ALL the charbroilers in all the restaurants in the district, not just a single restaurant.
Dr. Hogly Wogly’s BBQ is CRAP!! Worst ‘que I’ve ever eaten (and then spat out.) SSZ
I think they were talking about the emissions from all of the commercial charbroilers operating in the Bay Area.
What’s next?
You probably hate In-N-Out burgers too....!
There is no longer any need to think ahead to the effect on millions of people before arbitrarily making up new rules, regulations and creating new criminals.
I would not want to be any of these losers "just following orders" or new laws when the victims (the rest of us) are finally fed up.
It won't be pretty.
No, this is the Bay Area, home of the Flying Moonbats!
Hate to break this to you, but nothing gets "written off"; simply hidden deeper.
We, the consumer end up paying the unnecessary expense either way.
I prefer in-your-face, highly visible cost for absurd regulations. That is the only way to ever expect rational, truly necessary change.
Every time I read the latest news of cali dimwitery I am heartened that I’ve remained in the heartland.
You'll note that "air district engineers" never explain how they arrive at absurd numbers, or what the natural background levels of these "pollutants" are. So their numbers can never be validated.
For instance, what are the numbers for a month worth of wildfires in Southern California?
I think a class action suit against over-reaching Air Resources Boards would be a very educational exercise.
Best damned BBQ this side of the Mississippi. I eat there at least once a week. Bear Pit isn’t too bad either.
The inmates are running the asylum.
They can have my "fry daddy" when they pry it from my cold dead greasy fingers!
Smokers warned you.
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