2011 Feb. 10: CT Waterbury: RAWSEP View: “This is the first (advocacy for people) we have ever done in 14 years where the people are sick now,” as opposed to fearing sickness in the future, she said. RE: Smoke signals

2011 Feb. 10: CT Waterbury: RAWSEP View: “This is the first (advocacy for people) we have ever done in 14 years where the people are sick now,” as opposed to fearing sickness in the future, she said. RE: Smoke signals

RAWSEP View:

1. In an opinion piece by Steve Macoy in The Waterbury (CT) Republican American Macoy he makes a few comments about possible problems with wood burning, while he ignores the health impacts of wood smoke. Macoy says “anyone who has hunkered down near a campfire can testify that a slight change in wind direction can turn a warm, pleasing fire into a source of pure misery.” and “Lawmakers showed a willingness to consider tighter regulations but seemed to have no stomach for an outright ban. The furnaces often annoy neighbors, especially when folks burn things like tires in them” and finishes his essay with “it seems to us there’s a glorious market opportunity for whoever figures out a way to direct woodsmoke somewhere other than the neighbors’ windows.”

2. Trivializing the health problems that are caused by wood smoke by saying that wood smoke causes only misery and annoyance ignores the very real health problems that neighbors of Outdoor Wood Boilers have developed because of the wood smoke, whether it is directly aimed at their windows or not.
3. The very real health problems caused by wood smoke (soot particulates, Black Carbon) are heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, asthma and cataracts. As Nancy Alderman of EHHI said “This is the first (advocacy for people) we have ever done in 14 years where the people are sick now,” as opposed to fearing sickness in the future. The link between the wood smoke and illness and death is established by scientific facts beyond the shadow of a doubt. The deaths have happened, the illness is costing neighbors of Outdoor Wood Boiler owners their lives, their health and their money for health care. Neighbors in addition face the costs of having to move and sell an undesirable property at a reduced price. The diseases are preventable and the moving costs are prevenable. The only way to prevent these costs is for the Connecticut legislature to act and ban or enact appropriately stringent Outdoor Wood Boiler regulations that protect the health of people of Connecticut.
4. Besides the health problems, Black Carbon is the second leading cause of clmate change. Stopping particulate production is the quickest way to slow climate change. Redirecting smoke away from neighbors windows does not solve the problem of climate change that wood smoke adds to. One Outdoor Wood Boiler produces 1800x the particulates as one residential natural gas furnace. One Outdoor Wood Boiler costs between $6,000 and $20,000 and one residential natural gas furnace costs $1,500 (net with government rebates). Wood Boiler owners may have been ripped off by OWB manufacturers and dealers, but they have the option of returning the polluting devices and asking for their money back. Neighbors of Outdoor Wood Boiler owners have developed illnesses and can’t simply ask for their health back when the illnesses have progressed to the point of chronic diseases.
5. Redirecting smoke away from neighbors’ windows is not a “glorious market opportunity” unless you are a death merchant. The smoke will still be in the air, prompting Air Quality Alerts and imposing your pollution on all. The unusual weather events caused by climate change affect everyone but probably affect farmers most of all occupations. Dealling with increased precipitation, floods, drought and heat is not a prescription for a “glorious” future.

Smoke signals
Waterbury Republican American
A legislative committee heard testimony in Hartford for and against a statewide ban on outdoor wood-burning furnaces Wednesday. …