Is the Spare the Air Day Law a Healthy Protection of the Environment or the Government Run Amuck?

In 2008 a new law to protect the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area came into effect. Each morning the air is tested for predicted soot concentrations and if the air quality prediction is bad, at noon they post a Spare the Air alert to notify San Francisco Bay area residents that wood burning is not allowed until noon the next day. Spare the Air alerts can be extended if the meteorologists determine that additional Spare the Air days are necessary. Many bay area residents are unaware of the new law and may unknowingly violate it. Is this Spare the Air Day law a good plan to help protect the environment or the government finding yet another way to control daily existence and personal rights?

Wood burning is reported to contribute as much as one third of the particulate matter that contaminates the air in the wintertime. The San Francisco Bay Area consists of nine counties, with a population of over 7 million people. Almost a million and a half wood burning fire places and stoves can add up to a lot of contamination in the air. Wood burning, in this case, includes firelogs, wood or pellets.

What exactly can this type of contamination do to the human body? According to the official Spare the Air Day website, www.sparetheair.org, the contaminates from wood burning can get past our body's natural defense system and enter the lungs and even the bloodstream. If you are exposed to enough of this type of contaminant, it can aggravate or cause lung and heart problems. It is in essence another form of dangerous second hand smoke that lasts a lot longer in the air than a the second hand smoke from a cigarette does. Wood fire smoke enters the air and your lungs unfiltered. Lung diseases and air pollution is a serious concern, especially in areas of high population concentrations, but is this law a good or bad idea?

What about people who only have wood to heat their homes with? They are exempt from the law. People who can prove they have a non-functional heater are also exempt. The law did take into consideration the people who use wood burning fireplaces to keep their homes warm and who only have that method available to warm their houses.

Each morning meteorologists take air samples in the San Francisco Bay Area and make a prediction according to their findings. If the determine that the contaminant levels are too high, they will call for a Spare the Air Day alert. It is posted at noon that day and lasts until noon the following day. It can be extended, if tests determine that another Spare the Air Day is needed. When air is still it is more likely to hold the contaminants in place.

How do you find out about these alerts? Many people in the Bay area counties are still unaware of this law. Being unaware does not exclude anyone from any fines. The best way to know for sure is to sign up on the website for official notifications. You can also look at the website directly each day or at times when you may be planning to have a wood fire burning in your home. Anyone can choose to be notified via email or by cell phone or pager to let you know when a winter Spare the Air Day alert has been posted. Some of the San Francisco Bay Area newspapers also post alerts, the San Jose Mercury News for one. It beats the alternative of finding an unexpected warning notice in your post box for the first violation, followed by monetary fines ranging from the hundreds to the thousands for subsequent fines for unknowingly breaking a Spare the Air Day law.

How do officials know if you have violated the law? This is one of the issues that have people up in arms over this new wood burning law. Apparently any neighbor can turn you in for burning a wood fire. That smacks of big brother controlling the masses in some ways and many find that really offensive. It also doesn't make for a warm fuzzy neighborhood feel either knowing you can be turned in for putting a log in your fireplace and lighting it. Like any law violation, a citizen has a right to report a problem to authorities but when it comes to something as primal as burning a simple wood fire for warmth, perhaps this law or how it can be implemented, has overstepped the boundaries.

In addition to any neighbor or passerby being able to report violations, there are teams of official Spare the Air Day representatives who are patrolling Bay Area neighborhoods to look for violators on days where wood burning is prohibited.

Hopefully the law will encourage people to use more efficient methods of fire burning but not everybody has the means to replace existing fireplaces with cleaner burning systems, especially in a bad economy. Some people can't even afford to have the heat on. Natural gas is a much cleaner alternative for the air. There are many alternative products available now to wood burning. There are even inserts available for purchase that can be used in existing wood burning fireplaces.

There is still confusion over this new Spare the Air Day law and what precisely can be fined or not and the confusion has people frustrated. It also has some angered over yet another government control of our lives at a very basic level. The ability to squeal on a neighbor over something so basic, does give one pause. Education is of prime concern to help people understand the importance of this kind of law.

Check out the official Spare the Air Day website for detailed information on the law, air pollution, tips on making fires cleaner and more efficient, educational information and links for kids and teachers and sign up for notifications if you live in the Bay Area. The information is there. Now they need to get it out to all the San Francisco Bay Area residents and spread the word to other areas that may benefit from a similar program. The website address is: www.sparetheair.org.

Obviously air quality and pollution is a big issue today. We can't continue to abuse our resources without thought. This Spare the Air Day law in the San Francisco Bay Area is a step to help protect our environment and us. We need to continue finding ways to protect and preserve our resources, and that includes the air we breathe.