CA: Farmers do a slow burn

FResno Bee ^ | 1/18/04 | Jennifer M. Fitzenbarger and Mark Grossi

[NormsRevenge]

The clock is ticking for growers who rely on cheap open-field burning to dispose of prunings and uprooted orchards from millions of acres in the San Joaquin Valley. The state will phase out agricultural waste burning beginning in June 2005 under a new law designed to help clean Valley air, which is among the most lung-damaging in the nation.

[NormsRevenge]

.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

---

If this is taxes with reprsentation
Give me taxes without representation
I much prefer a tax on tea!
Instead of everything else.

[Riley]

I fear the day when the farmers of this country look at one another and say, "Screw it. It just isn't worth the hassle anymore."

[11B3]

Note to California: Consider installing one of those "Oil from anything" plants to turn this waste into usable oil. No drilling required, and very little grinding of the material. That many tons of waste would produce a lot of oil, putting needed cash back into the state budget.

Win/Win situation. But it probably makes too much sense.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[B4Ranch]

We should ban all farming, all ranching of hogs, buffalo, cattle, chickens, you name it. Then join in line with the FreeTrade promoters for the benefit of 3rd world countries.

If we do not farm or ranch, manufacture steel, plastic, glass, chemicals, you name it within a short time, a decade or so we will be able to get on a couple of the foreign aid lists from other countries.

It would wonderful to receive foreign aid from the other countries because we would be a third or fouth world country ourselves by then. Just imagine going to the United Nations and whining that China, Russia, Africa, South America and Canada are so much more advanced and yet they still refuse to help us become a world leader.

We would no longer be the Country of Choice, illegal immigration would be a non-topic. Our air would be so clean we could see for hundreds of miles. The noise level from machinery would drop tremendously in every major city.

What more could we ask for?

Our Federal government would be giving us all free dental and medical care (and free mass burials).

[stboz]

Win/Win situation. But it probably makes too much sense.

It probably costs too much to do it. How many BTUs per pound of wood-waste are there? Bet it's not even close to low-grade coal. Last time I looked most wood was about 8,000 BTU/pound, maybe less.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Pile it up in compost piles!

[kingu]

1.1 million tons of farm waste, stacked into piles, to make compost? After a few growing seasons, those compost piles would be pretty damn big.

I'll be interested in seeing what idea they eventually come up with. My bet the plan will be to turn that biomass into plant-gold, tossing hundreds of millions at the biomass burning industry.

[marsh2]

Our area has commenced a concerted effort to reduce forest fuels. That is producing a great deal of biomass. The problem is that the cost of chipping and transporting that biomass in excess of 50 miles exceeds the value of the product.

Here is an idea that is being developed under the Small Modular Power System Project: http://www.shastaenergygroup.org/frames/SMBSProject.htm

It is now being looked at for a replacement system for old boiler in local public schools. It looks like it might be a good solution to overcome the distance problem

[tubebender]

Turning this high carbon waste into the soil will require a increase in Nitrogen which the inviros hate so this is just a endless dog and pony show.The chips can also harbor disease that can be detrimental to the farm.

We have new burn regulations here even though we have prevailing winds to disperse it...

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Some random thoughts from a city girl (feel free to set me straight)...

And if a farmer is removing an entire grove, the wood can't be chipped and used as a soil enhancement, says Shirley Batchman of the California Citrus Mutual. There's just too much wood.

Isn't walnut and pecan wood valuable for furniture, etc.? Why would you burn a whole grove of walnut trees???

Also, don't the trees contribute enough oxygen during their lives to offset their final demise in burning? What's the contribution (i.e., not planting anything) vs. planting and burning their prunings and ultimately the trees?

Emissions from this burning were a small but significant part of the air problem in the Valley, which ranks as the second-most polluted place in the country behind Los Angeles. Farm burning daily on average accounts for almost 10 tons of particle pollution and about 12 tons of smog-making gases.

By comparison, rangeland management fires and prescribed burning in forests account for about 29 tons of particle pollution daily. Those categories of fires also contribute 16 tons of smog-making gases each day.

What are the overall numbers from cars, trucks, etc.? Maybe fires are only a tiny source...

Cogdill, a Republican, realizes there might be a better way -- though he's not sure what -- to solve the problem. For now, he plans to forge ahead on creating credits for farmers. His staff will re-evaluate the bill and make changes. Cogdill also is toying with the idea of asking a Democrat to carry a version of his bill next year. It might be easier for a Democrat to push such a measure through the Democratically controlled Legislature.

Assembly Member Lois Wolk, a Democrat from Davis, says she would be interested in picking up Cogdill's bill. Wolk is not certain about using Cogdill's idea of credits. "But I am sure taking care of the ag waste is an issue," Wolk says, "and there ought to be ways to rejuvenate the biomass industry." Wolk says the Legislature should take some responsibility for finding a solution. After all, a new law created the dilemma. "Agriculture is a key player, no doubt about it, but not the only player," Wolk says. "We have a role here."

Translation: even if it's a great idea and would solve the problem, a bill from a Rebublican legislator, is DOA.

[farmfriend]

Isn't walnut and pecan wood valuable for furniture, etc.? Why would you burn a whole grove of walnut trees???

Grove trees are not big enough to produce wood for furniture. Besides we have no mills left to mill the wood. No place to store it until it cures etc. Overseas lumber is cheaper anyway. The Pew and Packard foundations give money to enviro groups to sue. Locks up resources over here so that they are free from competition with their over seas interests. IT is a big racket. Read some of Carry_Okie's posts or let me know and I will direct you to some good ones.

Also, don't the trees contribute enough oxygen during their lives to offset their final demise in burning?

No the complaint is about the particles burning produces besides the gases. All part of the racket don't you know.

What are the overall numbers from cars, trucks, etc.? Maybe fires are only a tiny source...

Doesn't matter as environmental reasons are not the true driving force.

Translation: even if it's a great idea and would solve the problem, a bill from a Rebublican legislator, is DOA.

YES!!!

[Fury]

This may be coming to New York as well. There is discussion of a law to prohibit burn barrels, even if rural areas, but the way the law reads, it looks like almost any sort of open burning will be stopped.