Posted on 12/28/2011 1:10:13 PM PST by SmithL
The Bay Area's air-quality police were out in force over Christmas weekend, cracking down on wood fires. And the smoke cops could be sending out belated stocking stuffers -- hefty fines -- to several dozen people caught using their fireplaces.
Regulators said more than 400 people tattled on their neighbors for lighting wood fires in their homes on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, a holiday tradition that was illegal this year because of poor air quality.
Authorities say they didn't issue any fines on the spot but are sorting through 77 cases of potential violations after working overtime, patrolling in Toyota Priuses and natural gas vehicles to spot chimney smoke and respond to complaints.
Those caught burning fires in their homes for the first time since the winter "Spare the Air" campaign began in 2008 will receive a warning, while repeat offenders will get $400 tickets.
But the Bay Area Air Quality Management District isn't worried about coming off like a grinch -- and doesn't plan on showing any leniency just because it's Christmas time.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Fine with me. that’s some nice looking wood :).
Looks good to me..
Looks good to me..
As someone who was born in LA and moved shortly after I can confidently say that i will NEVER go back to CA. I regularly burn fires in my two fireplaces, and with 6.5 acres of woods that I keep clean, I burn well over a dozen brush fires every winter. Never mind the camp fires I have in my three fire pits scattered around the property.
Cruising around in the Prius on Christmas day, huh? I smell OVERTIME.
Using Algore logic, couldn’t you just buy fireplace offsets?
Wonder how much they get paid for working overtime on Christmas?
Unfortunately, these are not elected morons. They are appointed morons. In 1955 (yes, 1955), the California legislature created the Bay Area Air Quality Management District as the first regional air pollution control agency in the entire US. It was the first such agency that could control air emissions across political boundaries. It is comprised of the nine counties in the SF Bay Area. The thinking was that these nine counties share common geographical features and weather patterns, and therefore similar air pollution burdens, which cannot be addressed by counties acting on their own. The BAAQMD is the public agency "entrusted" with regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties.
BAAQMD held a series of public hearings on fireplaces in 2008 and got an earful from the citizens about the ban (including me), but, predictably, they totally ignored the input and passed their radical agenda anyway.
The irony is that hardly anybody around here uses their fireplace anymore anyway. The air still gets crappy when we have "stuck" high pressure air over us resulting in no wind or rain to clean out the air. I haven't noticed one bit of improvement after banning fireplaces on "spare the air" days. On Christmas day, the air was particularly bad and nasty layer of foul air hung over the South Bay. We made our annual Christmas afternoon trip to the beach in Montara and sure did smell a lot of burning going on coast-side. I guess they figure that all the "inspectors" are busy over in the more densely populated Bay side of the hill.
It almost seems as if BAAQMD has an anti-Christian and anti-New Years agenda as they have predictably banned fireplace use on those days ever since the new rules went into effect.
One last thing. This article (at least in the print edition today) points out the fireplace nazis are using Toyota Priuses to go about their intrusive business. I guess we're supposed to be happy that the nazis are so "green" as they go about destroying our holiday cheer.
Is that a shipping container full of firewood, my new best friend?
I thought this was satire - especially the part about the “Piouses”.
Merrin J Wright AIR RESOURCES SUPERVISOR $96,576.44
Brieanne R Aguila AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST $96,308.59
John W Oback STAFF AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST $95,537.54
Ronald J Nunes AIR RESOURCES ENGINEER $95,416.13
Steve P Hui AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST $95,369.84
Michelle C Shultz-Wood STAFF AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST $95,345.54
Someone please tell me this is satire???
8 cords went to a customer in Juneau. He called this morning to say he'd received it.
My parents must be rolling over in their graves. Liberals are scum.
I’m a smoker.
They’ve been after us for over 20 years.
I can’t say I’m getting too worked up over this.
“Not that I look for anything rational coming out of California anymore”.
Apparently even Freepers from California judging from the whiny post previously.
That’s beautiful wood, gettinolder. Do you deliver to Maryland?! /s
I believe you are on the wrong forum, you should switch over to DU. The above statement is most likely a lie. How could your eyes have been burning and your eyes watering from wood smoke when no burning is allowed. Liberals always lie in order to prove their point, which in reality doesn't prove anything.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.