CA: California air regulators propose fireplace ban

Sac Bee ^ | 12/6/02 | Kim Baca

[NormsRevenge]

FRESNO, Calif.(AP) - Residents of California's agricultural heartland for years have blamed their thick layer of smog on exhaust from cars and trucks in the San Francisco Bay area. Now, air regulators are proposing a solution that hits much closer to home.

[NormsRevenge]

Hold muh kindling .. I gotta go blow some insulation in my shorts.

[facedown]

Completely predictable. Next it'll be barbeque grills.

[Desdemona]

You've got to be kidding.

Sorry, gas fireplaces just don't do it the way wood does.

[NormsRevenge]

Also, on bad air days during the winter, many Central Californians would be prohibited from lighting up their existing wood-burning stoves and fireplaces in a concerted effort to get the smoggy valley to comply with the Clean Air Act.

A matter of time.. how ya like your ribs,, raw?

[NormsRevenge]

The Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act - EPA

[borisbob69]

"With our energy costs going through the roof, you to have to keep the house warm with a supplemental fire," says Doug Vagim, 59, a Fresno resident and former state Air Resources Board member who opposes the ban.

"I have a problem with you telling me I can't light my fireplace," Bakersfield resident Pat White said. "You're telling me what I can and can't do in my home. That's not fair. This is a taking, I feel, of my rights."

"The lifestyles of the folks in this valley don't have to be impacted by a Nazi-type era upon us to keeping us from burning in our homes," Vagim said.

I wonder how these two voted on anti-smoking measures. I'd feel sorry for them...except nobody wanted to hear my bitching about my freedoms and rights!

Guess they'll just have to bite the bullet like us smokers!

[glorgau]

Up here in the Sacramento area, on cooler evenings (I know it doesn't really get cold here) all you have to do is walk outside and you can smell all the wood fireplaces burning. For myself, I have a gas fireplace installed. Just flick a switch and you've got the ambiance happening. I really hated cleaning up the ashes also. My laziness doesn't allow me to do such manual labor. :-)

[RogueIsland]

I'm quite certain that the 9th Circuit will rule that fireplace ownership was intended by the Founders as a "collective right". They will cite an article in Parade Magazine to buttress their legal reasoning.

[Frohickey]

The district had considered a wood-burning ban a decade ago, but the "air board has never really had the political backbone to pass some of the most needed regulations," said Kevin Hall, a local Sierra Club member.

I don't really see the problem? Where are these residents going to find the wood to burn in their wood-burning fireplaces anyway? Its not like the Sierra Club has left them any wood in the forests after the summer fire season.

[glorgau]

"I have a problem with you telling me I can't light my fireplace," Bakersfield resident Pat White said. "You're telling me what I can and can't do in my home. That's not fair. This is a taking, I feel, of my rights."

All he has to do is ensure that the smoke doesn't cross his property line!

[Bahbah]

Let them eat sushi.

[SSN558]

"Where are these residents going to find the wood to burn in their wood-burning fireplaces "

The CA Hillbilles are the offspring of those that used to work the mills. They don't have jobs anymore but manage to get by. When they are not cooking meth or growing pot there is always the job of stealing wood. They go to some wealthy persons vacation property and cut the trees, the wood then gets sold.

[crystalk]

Let the Californicators freeze in the dark. Look at the Leftism they have tried to impose on the rest of us!

Require a Gas stove? Those pollute the air inside the home, competing with your family for the very air they breathe!

No electric heat pumps? No woodstoves?

Looks like a boom in the construction of "homes that rely on wood for heat," to me!

[afraid]

So when are they going to change the name of state capital to Stalingrad?

[45Auto]

burning wood accounts for 30 percent of the problem,...which comes mainly from agricultural burning, not cars or fireplaces. The legislature gets a lot of money from the agri-business sector - so much that they refuse to acknowledge what the real problem is. The other main source of air pollution in the central valley is the business of farming on a grand scale. Thousands of hectares of dirt are disturbed throughout the year which has two full growing seasons. And thousands if not millions of tons of agrichemicals are used in the process. It all comes down to what we want: lots of food at reasonable prices and a robust farm economy, or very expensive food with not enough to go around. Its a dilemma either way..

[Age of Reason]

Stop immigration and we stop population growth and preserve what's left of our freedoms.

Else one by one, like this fireplace ban, we will continue to lose the way of life we love from overcrowding.

[Gritty]

I wonder if Kommiefornia got rid of 5-7 million of their population of illegal aliens the State air quality would improve?

[kylaka]

You Laugh! One town in my state has an ordinance that says food odors from restaurants cannot cross the property line.

[o_zarkman44]

"Under proposed rules that would take effect next year, most wood-burning fireplaces and stoves would be banned in new homes. Masonry fireplaces would have to be permanently disabled, converted to natural gas or upgraded to expensive soot-containing models before homes could be sold."

Oh yes, quit burning wood for heat and convert to expensive natural gas, that by the way, California won't let any new exploration for gas supplys take place, so where will the gas come from? The state that has power blackouts because they won't let utilitys build new power plants seeks to keep people from having an alternative heating system. What if the power goes out?

But it's ok to let their forests burn, along with a few houses. If all the forests burn, there will be no firewood, so the people might have to scavange cattle dung to burn for heat.

The ability to keep your family warm is foremost a God given right that nobody has a right to deny, regardless of how it is accomplished. But I guess it's ok for the bums on the streets to keep warm around trash dumpsters.

Automobiles produce the highest amount of air pollution, next to industry, but has there been an effort to ban them or limit their annual mileage? When the mileage is exceeded, a pollution tax could be added to the annual license fee to discourage unnecessary driving. Wouldn't that make more sense?


Fireplaces are a miniscule part of the air pollution problems, as are bbq grills etc, but because they are a small part of the population, government thinks they can run over them.

[bybybill]

The worst air polution is caused by lawyers, every time the open their mouths, the air gets poluted