The Nasty, Negative, Dirty Things Wood Smoke Does To Hudson Valley Residents!

Imagine if everyone in your neighborhood burned wood? 

**IMPORTANT**  Dutchess County Residents. We have been invited to a council forum held in Rhinebeck this June or July.

The councilpersons are ready and willing to listen to us. But we need your help. Contact them with letters, phone calls or emails.

Ask them to support our requests.  It's up to us to help them pass good laws.  Councilperson contact information: http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/Legislature/CLlegislators.htm

Even if you cannot come to Rhinebeck, contact them.  This is what we are asking.

**Update: We received a reply from Governor Paterson's office & Dept of Environmental Conservation. They are considering our suggestions while they draft NYS regulations: establishing a minimum lot size as we asked and modifying the seasonal prohibition for existing and new OWBs are being considered. Proposed regulations coming shortly. Please contact your Dept. of Environmental Conservation with your input before the proposed regulations are drafted. As well as signing our Petition, the more letters and phone calls the legislators receive, the better chance we have of breathing clean air. Contact your local and state officials now.

(What Connecticut is doing to  Declare Wood Smoke A Public Nuisance.  Ask New York and your state to do the same.)

Huntington New York BANS OWBs !  Good for Huntington! Now let's get Dutchess County to follow their lead.

Sign Our PETITION to STOP WOOD SMOKE

Remember the days when windows in your home could remain open year round if you so chose? When the sounds of birds floated indoors along with a sweet breeze? And you were able to hear howling winds or enjoy the sounds and scent of a peaceful, cleansing rain? For some, those days are gone. Not because residents have lost their senses, but because others have chosen to burn wood excessively and in some cases, carelessly.

For many of us, gone are the days when we could freely indulge in these simplest pleasures of life, including the right to breathe clean, smoke free air. You really don’t know what you have until you lose it, trite but ever so true.

Unfortunately, if you live next door or even close to outdoor wood boilers/furnaces, wood stoves and fireplaces that operate excessively during the majority of the year to heat homes and hot water, your right to one freedom has been lost—the right to breathe clean, smoke free air.  You've also lost other rights, including the right to enjoy your home and property, and the right to experience a healthy lifestyle.

On a drive down scenic 9W in Newburgh, I couldn’t help but notice the grim, contaminated waters of the silent Hudson, a river that once sparkled with life, brilliance and natural beauty. Today’s Hudson River has been grossly polluted by chemicals and toxins; by man.

We cannot and must not let this happen to the air that we breathe!

It is against the law to litter roadways and highways. For littering land there is a fine. Yet permission is granted to litter our air with harmful chemicals and toxic pollutants on a daily basis; air pollution created by our neighbors. This toxic air pollution is avoidable.

We, the public, may not have a direct voice in regulating industrial air contamination, but we can have a positive impact upon the quality of air in our own back yard.

The President and his Administration have declared war on six greenhouse gasses (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydro fluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride) that negatively impact our environment and contribute to global warming. Wood smoke contains some of these gases and even more, equally hazardous poisons: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide. A partial list of chemicals found in wood smoke can be viewed here.

It’s up to us to tell them, air pollution is not only created by autos, factories and industries. One outdoor wood burning boiler/ furnace produces more toxic particulates per hour than two heavy duty diesel trucks, more than forty passenger cars, more than one thousand oil furnaces, and more than eighteen hundred gas furnaces.  This is scientifically documented.  This is insanity that must be stopped.

Tests done by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) found that the average fine particle emissions (a particularly harmful pollutant) from one OWB are equivalent to the emissions from 22 EPA certified wood stoves, 205 oil furnaces, or as many as 8,000 natural gas furnaces. One OWB can emit as much fine particle matter as four heavy duty diesel trucks on a grams per hour basis. The smallest OWB has the potential to emit almost one and one-half tons of particulate matter every year. Wood smoke travels far into the atmosphere where the fine particles pollute clouds and cause global warming.

Burning wood is not natural, romantic, economical or green; it’s unhealthy and dirty. Burning wood is the dirtiest and unhealthiest way to heat a home.

Studies prove that short term exposure to wood smoke causes eye and throat irritation, cough and shortness of breath, while chronic exposure triggers asthma attacks, heart and lung disease and cancer.  Children and the elderly are most at risk. Wood smoke is worse than tobacco smoke, containing many of the same carcinogenic elements and can be as addictive due to aromatic chemical components shared by both. Wood smoke can make you sick and can kill you. Exposure to wood smoke has been linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) as well as premature death. According to a new study by the Harvard School of Public Health, wood smoke is a severe health hazard that can kill an estimated 3% of the population of the US annually. That could total one million people per year! 

If the burners of wood feel the concerns of non burners infringe upon their right to burn, they must understand that once their smoke leaves their stack and enters the property of another, it is no longer a right; it is an invasion of privacy and health threat.

Although many voices are loud, it takes but one to begin to help.  If you are affected by or concerned about the quality of air that you and your family are breathing, then copy the letter below or create your own and send it to local, county and federal officials. 

Together we can all breathe a lot easier and cleaner.

A sample letter you may want to use or customize to mail to public officials: (tell them if you have been affected by a neighbor's wood smoke)

Your Name

Address

City, State

Phone # or Email Contact

Dear__________(your town, county & federal legislators)

I am a resident who is concerned about the negative impact of increasing amounts of residential wood smoke that affects the quality of air in _________ town, city and state.  I urge you to protect residents of affected areas by regulating and controlling toxic wood smoke emissions that have been scientifically proven to endanger health and environment. The burning of wood in outdoor wood boilers, wood stoves, fireplaces and any other wood burning devices should be strictly limited or banned when appropriate.

Minimum Acreage Requirement: Outdoor wood furnaces/boilers release enormous amounts of smoke from their stacks, and therefore must be operated only on very large parcels of land. The carcinogenic particulate matter contained in wood smoke travels for miles. Require the installation and operation of outdoor wood boilers/burners/furnaces on no less than 10 acres, where caustic smoke can disperse to lessen the negative impact upon neighboring homes. This should include indoor wood furnaces as well.

Wood Burning Devices: Excessive wood stove and fireplace smoke is just as harmful as OWB, and equally deprives residents of the right to use and enjoy their property. Implement and enforce the same laws to govern wood stoves, fireplaces and all other wood burning devices that the law provides in the regulation of outdoor wood boilers/furnaces.

Burning Season: Climate and temperature should be a consideration. Limit the wood burning season to the coldest months of the year; December through March so that residents may open their windows to fresh, smoke free air in spring, summer and autumn. Don’t force us to breathe wood smoke as an alternative to fresh air.

Do not permit the use of wood as a primary source of home heating. Every home should have a primary source (electric, gas, oil or clean alternative) to create heat and hot water, other than the use of burning wood which creates the most harmful particulate matter in residential areas. Limit the amount of time wood burning devices may operate to a few hours per day in residential areas where it directly affects and endangers public health.

Declare wood smoke a Public Nuisance as a number of municipalities have done or are seriously considering, which will protect those who are negatively affected and harmed by wood smoke.

Regulate: Implement strict regulations for all wood burning devices. Enforce all wood burning laws to the fullest extent of the law.

Burning wood in my residential area is an invasion of my privacy and property rights, denies me the quiet enjoyment of my land, and contributes to air pollution and disease. The right to breathe clean air and enjoy a healthy lifestyle should, and must preside over anyone’s right to burn wood.

Sincerely,

___________ sign your name.