It is -40 in Fairbanks, and people are burning wood to keep their family alive. The EPA says this is unhealthy and is planning to fine them.
Fairbanks has chronic winter air pollution problems from widespread use of wood- and oil-burning stoves. The city has been experiencing unusually cold November weather, with temperatures dropping into the minus-30s overnight.
The EPA says this about the issue: “The size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems.Health dangers are potentially greater for children, says the EPA, which has ordered the state to clean up Fairbanks air or face financial penalties.
h/t to John Bogen
I expect many Alaskans (and others) will simply refuse to abide by the EPA’s tyrannous, unreasoning dictates. It’s called civil disobedience (which Gandhi learned from Henry David Thoreau, and which even the Insane Left knows about, as “non-violent protest”).
I thought biomass burning was good and added no CO2 pollution to the atmosphere.
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.
Never mind the health danger from freezing to death.
Wow, this article is full of irony.
Unseasonable cold snap (-40) coupled with the nation’s highest particulate air pollution (read carbon/CO2)?
I wonder how cold it would really be without all of that CO2-filled stagnate air over Fairbanks?
Isn’t fining Fairbanks unfair? They should be given medals. Burning wood saved lives.
That would be like fining Sandy or Katrina victims. These folks need FEMA trailers pronto.
This is no less a natural disaster. Sandy victims left wood laying around in the shape of densely packed homes, and hundreds of homes burned within 24 hours. Fairbanks residents left wood laying around, and everyone survived when the wood burned.
Give them medals.
Link for the fine from EPA? This is what the writer has in his title. I don’t see nor can I find one. Just a couple blogs parroting each other with no links. TY
Here are the facts. 1) There’s been no fine in Fairbanks for air pollution, ever. 2) On Jan 3, 2013, Alaska DEC filed a case against a landlord with two outdoor wood boilers, see http://cleanairfairbanks.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/finally-dec-v-straughn/ Search Alaska Court records for case 4FA-13-01205CI defendant “Andrew Straughn” or “Gloria Straughn” http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/eservices/home.page.4 3) Many neighbors, including children, have been injured by the Straughns’ smoke. 4) The AG didn’t file their first air pollution case just to lose for inadequate evidence.