Outright Ban On Anything Wood In Utah! Pellets/Cord Wood/Fireplaces

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BKVP

BKVP

Minister of Fire
Oct 10, 2011
4,440
Walla Walla Washington
www.blazeking.com
On November 24, 2014 Utah Department of Environmental Quality sent a memoradum to their Air Quality Board proposing that ALL wood product burning be banned in the following counties: Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah and Weber Counties...

Folks this is the entire Wasatch front! The only exceptions will be for an estimated 100 families where wood is the sole source of heat (and the state is trying to find funds to move these families to other devices) and for wood burning above 7,000 ft. I would guess that any visitors (hunters and skiers) know the only thing above 7,000 feet are ski resorts and the homes people with wealth can afford.

The entire stove industry, manufacturers, retailers and distributors as well as YOU wood and pellet burners should become engaged in this issue.

If a conservative region such as Salt Lake can do this then counties like yours and mine are next!

There are much better and PROVEN way to help regions reach attainment for air quality, like stove change outs. Yet, it Utah, the short quick fix is to ban wood burning altogether.

Is anyone listening? Here is the letter/proposal attached. Give it a read.
 

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It's just a proposal at this point. There are too many people who burn wood products. I don't see this going anywhere.
 
mellow said:
Wow, that is all I can say, downright dumbfounded. Who is the special interest group behind this?
Click to expand...

This is the State's reaction to not having reached attainment and filing a SIP (state implementation program) with EPA.
 
TimfromMA said:
It's just a proposal at this point. There are too many people who burn wood products. I don't see this going anywhere.
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Those are the exact same words everyone used in the late 90's when WA state proposed their own emissions standards.
 
I would be outside the statehouse with a pitch fork, just sayin....
 
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Ya, 1 million people driving their cars back and forth to work every day, several refineries, many large manufacturing/industrial areas and they blame the valley pollution on the miniscule percentage of people that burn wood in their homes. It's just an easy way for them to make it look like they are fixing the air pollution problem in the valley.
 
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Lots of people burn coal in open fireplaces and smoke dragons here in Utah. Coal is extremely cheap around these parts, and I am the only person in my neighborhood with a wood burning stove who doesn't buy a ton of coal per year to supplement their firewood.

Also, I live above 7,000' feet and am poor, so watch who you're calling privileged.
 
BCC_Burner said:
Lots of people burn coal in open fireplaces and smoke dragons here in Utah. Coal is extremely cheap around these parts, and I am the only person in my neighborhood with a wood burning stove who doesn't buy a ton of coal per year to supplement their firewood.

Also, I live above 7,000' feet and am poor, so watch who you're calling privileged.
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My point about the coal is one of pollution generated vs wood if that's the point of banning wood.
 
For sure, coal is much dirtier, and I can't believe how common it is for people to burn it around here. Growing up in northeast Pennsylvania I never encountered as many people burning coal, and at least back there they have cleaner burning anthracite.

Part of the problem here too is that people who burn coal don't have coal stoves, they are burning coal in Franklin stoves (which for some reason are the most prevalent kind of woodstove you see in Utah homes) or even open fireplaces.

Nevermind the fact that the same pollution trapping valley is home to numerous smelters, refineries, trash incinerators and even a medical waste incinerator, plus millions of vehicles. But it must be the couple thousand people burning wood who are truly fouling the air; that's why the entire valley has a metallic smell, akin to the way blood tastes, whenever the air quality is bad.

This is only one of many reasons that I am moving away from this awful, polluted backwater hellhole of a state. "This is the place" my ass.
 
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80% of the states electricity comes from coal from US Energy Imformation Administration.
 
The HPBA has been no help to me in reigning in our puget sound air control board either. You're dealing with the same problem as we are in the seattle/tacoma metro, a bunch of folks looking for an excuse to take away wood burning. Little by little.
 
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More pellets for the rest of us.
 
BKVP said:
This is the State's reaction to not having reached attainment and filing a SIP (state implementation program) with EPA.
Click to expand...

Is a ban on wood and coal burning the only thing the State is proposing toward reaching attainment in that area?

I can't get the file posted here but a quick google search brought up nothing but a burn ban.
 
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Then all i can say is that Utah wood burners get up and yell. They won't listen to anyone out of state so until something like this comes up in MA, there's nothing for me to do except enjoy the extra pellets.
 
WA and OR are probably the strictest states for wood stove regs, some of which were championed by stove sellers.

This is not happening just in the US. As populations grow and fuel gets more expensive wood smoke is increasingly seen as an issue. In New Zealand wood smoke pollution is at crisis levels at times and they have very stiff regulations compared to here. Fireplace and open burning are the first things to be eliminated if the goal is to achieve quick results.

This is Christchurch on a bad day.

[Hearth.com] Outright Ban On Anything Wood In Utah! Pellets/Cord Wood/Fireplaces
 
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have a ban on the island of montreal ,to much pollution in winter time,excuse me while i turn on my car and let it warm up for 15 20 minutes while i drink my coffee. I'M GETTING FED UP WITH THESE JACKASSES:mad:
 
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begreen said:
The other issue is geography. The east coast in general, unlike the west coast doesn't have 10,000+ ft mountain ranges creating inversion bowls for the smoke to get trapped in. The air in these inversions is very bad.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/us/utah-a-nature-lovers-haven-is-plagued-by-dirty-air.html

You would think of SLC as being relatively low industry and clean air, but the Wasatch Range acts like a barrier to hold in smoke.

View attachment 148233
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like smoking a pack a day just breathing air.
 
GeHmTS said:
Just curious, where there a lot of forest fires lately?
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By winter the forest fire season has passed in most regions.
 
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