Q&A
Davis is experiencing significant air quality problems from residential wood burning in winter months. How would you suggest the City address this problem?
[Don's response:] Air quality is a regional problem that requires all of us to do our part. Wood burning contributes to air quality degradation through the addition of particualte matter. The East Bay and Sacramento areas have high particulate matter counts. While the Yolo Solano Air Quality Management District (YSAQMD) area does not have a high overall particulate matter count, older neighborhoods in our community and others on winter days experience higher levels.
Effective January 2006, the YSAQMD implemented a rule (Rule 2.40) that prohibits any new construction in the district (including Davis) from installing open hearth fireplaces and allows only EPA approved high efficiency wood burning appliances to be installed. There is a striking difference in the level of particulate matter emitted from various wood burning appliances - with open hearth fireplaces generating particulate matter at levels ten and twenty times that of EPA approved devices. In addition, the YSAQMD published a "Model Ordinance" for consideration by local governments and there is a possibility that cities can adopt more stringent restrictions.
Sacramento County has a "Check Before You Burn" page on their web site, and our own Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District has a link to this on their web site with a voluntary program called "Don't Light Tonight" to inform residents when we are facing weather conditions that would make wood burning more harmful. This system is being improved to move from a reading of the current conditions to have some predictive ability so the warnings can go out in advance. I encourage Davisites, even though we are not required to observe "no burn" days, to take advantage of this web site by signing up for automatic notification on the "Air Alert" system to receive emails letting them know when burning wood in the fireplace is undesirable.
Subsequent to the adoption of Rule 2.40 by YSAQMD, the Davis City Council asked our Natural Resources Commission (NRC) to review the model ordinance and advise on the most effective course of action to limit exposure of Davis residents to particulate matter. The NRC has a Subcommittee focused on this effort and coincidentally is reviewing the topic at the April 28 meeting of the Commission.
While I want to withold judgment until hearing from the NRC, I think we will probably see a combination of further restrictions on burning using specific appliances, incentives and rebates for purchases of cleaner EPA appliances, and more awareness of the issues pertaining to wood burning and the environmental effects.
