Category: Air

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Climate Change & Energy, ForestsTags , , ,

How California’s cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions works

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
California’s cap-and-trade program, established by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, promotes the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The program created one of the largest carbon credit markets in the world and one of two in the United States.
It sets a collective emissions cap on about 450 of the state’s largest polluters, including power generators, refineries and cement plants, which emit more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year, and requires them to obtain an allowance or a carbon offset for their emissions. The cap and the pool of allowances decline each year, while offsets — based on projects that sequester carbon in forests, for example — can cover up to 8 percent of their emissions.
The program also sets up a complex protocol for forest owners to establish offsets they can sell to polluters subject to the cap. Each offset represents 1 metric ton of greenhouse gas removed from the atmosphere by trees, which must be sustained for 100 years.
Source: How California’s cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions works | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Climate Change & Energy, Forests, Land UseTags , , , , ,

Under California cap-and-trade program, North Coast forests turn carbon uptake into cash

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
They say money doesn’t grow on trees, but a nearly 75,000-acre swath of redwood and fir forests blanketing the wildlands of Sonoma and Mendocino counties is generating millions of dollars as it contributes to California’s ambitious campaign to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
In a reversal of forest profiteering that dates back to the mid-1800s, the trees are making landowners money by staying upright and growing fast on damp coastal hills where vegetation thrives and few humans set foot.
The Conservation Fund, a Virginia-based nonprofit, has since 2008 sold more than $36 million worth of a new forest commodity called carbon credits, also known as carbon offsets, which represent 4 million metric tons of greenhouse gases sequestered, or stored, by forests that in turn must be sustained for 100 years.
The Conservation Fund’s forests are among the top two or three producers of forest-based carbon offsets in California’s carbon cap-and-trade program, said Chris Kelly, California program director for the group.
More than $2 million in credits have already sold for the former Preservation Ranch, a 19,645-acre property in northwestern Sonoma County that once was the focus of an intense environmental controversy.
Purchased by the fund for $24.5 million in public and private funding in 2013 — in the largest conservation deal by acreage in county history — the ranch, renamed Buckeye Forest, is forever protected against a future that once included a proposed 1,800 acre forest-to-vineyard conversion. Those plans aroused environmentalists’ anger and would have eliminated more than 300,000 trees.
Read more at: Under California cap-and-trade program, North Coast forests turn | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Sustainable LivingTags , ,

Wood fireplaces and stoves banned in new buildings

Mary Callahan, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
In its continuing effort to make breathing easier, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is again clamping down on wood fireplaces and stoves, banning them in all new buildings and requiring more efficient, clean-burning devices where wood fuel is the only source of heat.

The new regulations, approved this week, build on existing rules in an ongoing endeavor to wean residents inside the nine-county air district off polluting wood fires, whether used for heat or ambiance.

The aim of the regulations, first approved in 2008, is to limit emissions of the fine particles in smoke produced by combustion of wood and other solid fuels and wood products, such as pellets. This particulate matter can find its way into a person’s lungs and bloodstream and is linked to greater risk of heart attack, stroke, asthma, respiratory distress and other lung conditions, including cancer, according to the American Lung Association.

“It has a myriad of health impacts, like cigarette smoke,” air district spokeswoman Kristine Roselius said.

And it’s the No. 1 source of air pollution during the winter months, the air district said.

“It’s nasty,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane, a member of the air district board of directors, which unanimously approved the rule amendments Wednesday. “And it’s a lot more nasty than most people realize.”

An estimated 1.4 million fireplaces and uncertified fireplaces in the Bay Area produce about a third of the particulate matter in the air in the winter, the air district said.

The Bay Area air district takes in most of Sonoma County, including Windsor, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma and Sebastopol. It also includes unincorporated parts of Sonoma County roughly bounded on the west by Occidental and on the north by Windsor.

Read more at: Wood fireplaces and stoves banned in new buildings | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Sustainable LivingTags , ,

Sonoma County extends rebates for wood stove upgrades 

Angela Hart, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County supervisors this week renewed a program offering some businesses and residents financial rebates for replacing old wood stoves with new, more environmentally friendly appliances.
Home and business owners along the coast, some parts of the Russian River and north of Windsor in the Highway 101 corridor are eligible to apply for rebates — $1,000 to $2,500 — to install new gas stoves, environmentally certified fireplaces and stoves that burn wood or biomass pellets.
The Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District, which is funding the program, has $30,000 this year from grants and air pollution fines levied on people who in the past violated air quality regulations, such as rules that prohibit burning trash.
District officials said they plan to begin accepting applications Oct. 15, and rebates are processed on first-come, first-served basis. Funding could provide roughly 15 to 30 replacements, depending on the type of appliance.
In the past two years of the program, the district has spent $40,000 on 33 stove replacements. The idea is to reduce fine particulates in the air from wood burning.
For more information and to view a map of the district boundaries go here.
Source: Sonoma County extends rebates for wood stove upgrades | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Sustainable LivingTags , , , , Leave a comment on Campaign to address wood burning seeks cleaner air along Russian River

Campaign to address wood burning seeks cleaner air along Russian River

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

“If we can get people to burn properly, it would be a significant reduction in wood smoke.”

Life among the towering redwoods along the Russian River can be idyllic, but not when the temperature drops and folks fire up wood stoves to stay warm.
All too many of those stoves belch smoke that often shrouds the closely packed homes on wooded slopes and in canyons along the river from Forestville to Monte Rio, said Chuck Ramsey, president of the Russian River Alliance, a consortium of community groups.
“It seeps and settles in the redwoods, and it doesn’t dissipate,” said Ramsey, who is spearheading a campaign to address the problem, largely through educating residents on proper wood-burning practices.
Ramsey, a resident of The Terraces, a community of at least 200 homes on a hillside in Monte Rio overlooking the river, regularly breathes his neighbors’ smoke. From his laundry room, he can nearly touch the roof of one house and its chimney is about 20 feet away.“
It’s not like you can just close your doors and windows and keep it out,” he said. Wood-frame homes in The Terraces were built as summer cabins in the early 1900s and are hardly airtight, he said. Monte Rio and Rio Nido are hardest hit by smoke, Ramsey said, but the problem persists along the lower river.
But wood smoke pollution, readily visible on cold, dry, windless days, doesn’t register on the air quality monitor on the roof of the Veterans Memorial Hall in Guerneville, and thus doesn’t sully Sonoma County’s official record as a clean-air haven.
Read more at: Campaign to address wood burning seeks cleaner air | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, TransportationTags , , , Leave a comment on Sonoma County gets high marks for good air 

Sonoma County gets high marks for good air 

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County once again got straight-As on the American Lung Association’s latest air quality report card, which also cited California’s prolonged drought as a factor in fouling the state’s skies.
For the second year in a row, the county went without a single day of ozone or particle pollution exceeding federal standards, according to State of the Air 2015, the lung association’s annual report released Wednesday. Much of the credit can go to the breezy weather that typically blows away bad air.
Only three other coastal counties — Mendocino, Humboldt and Monterey — matched that perfect score, while Lake County came close with a single day of high ozone pollution, just as it did in last year’s report.
Read more via: Sonoma County gets high marks for good air | The Press Democrat

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Sustainable LivingTags , , , Leave a comment on Bay Area fireplace phase-out under new air quality regulations

Bay Area fireplace phase-out under new air quality regulations

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Wood smoke is the leading cause of wintertime air pollution, contributing 38 percent of fine particular matter, and about 1 million Bay Area residents have respiratory ailments putting them at risk from exposure to particulate pollution, the air district said.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire are a celebrated slice of Americana, but those cheerful blazes are bound for extinction under proposed Bay Area air quality regulations that would apply to most of Sonoma County’s 185,660 households.
Aimed at reducing the health threat from pollutants produced by burning wood in fireplaces and stoves, the rules would cost property owners hundreds to thousands of dollars to install alternatives — including federally certified wood-burning devices, gas-fueled or electric options — or to remove or wall off fireplaces.
For homeowners, however, the requirements would not apply until their property is sold or transferred.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District says that a complete turnover — eliminating about 1.4 million fireplaces and noncertified wood-burning devices — would occur in about 30 years, based on the assumption that 3 percent of Bay Area homes are sold each year.
The district’s proposals have rekindled a debate over wood smoke, with health advocates supporting cutbacks and both the wood stove industry and real estate interests challenging specific regulations.
The air district began issuing winter pollution alerts more than 15 years ago through voluntary burn bans on days when air quality was expected to be poor, said Ralph Borrmann, a district spokesman. The program did not effectively curb particulate levels, leading to the adoption in 2008 of more extensive rules, including mandatory winter burn bans known as Spare the Air alerts, which have cut particulate pollution by 30 percent, Borrmann said.
But wood smoke remains “a significant health issue in the Bay Area,” Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the air district, said in a press release. The proposed rule amendments are intended to “ensure that public health is protected” and that the Bay Area meets state and federal air quality standards, he said.
Read more via Bay Area fireplace phase-out could cost Sonoma County | The Press Democrat.

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Climate Change & EnergyTags , , , Leave a comment on Some states fight to keep wood fires burning

Some states fight to keep wood fires burning

David A. Lieb, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smoke wafting from wood fires has long provided a familiar winter smell in many parts of the country – and, in some cases, a foggy haze that has filled people’s lungs with fine particles that can cause coughing and wheezing.
Citing health concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency now is pressing ahead with regulations to significantly limit the pollution from newly manufactured residential wood heaters. But some of the states with the most wood smoke are refusing to go along, claiming that the EPA’s new rules could leave low-income residents in the cold.
Missouri and Michigan already have barred their environmental agencies from enforcing the EPA standards. Similar measures recently passed Virginia’s legislature and are pending in at least three other states, even though residents in some places say the rules don’t do enough to clear the air.
It’s been a harsh winter for many people, particularly those in regions repeatedly battered by snow. And the EPA’s new rules are stoking fears that some residents won’t be able to afford new stoves when their older models give out.
“People have been burning wood since the beginning of recorded time,” said Phillip Todd, 59, who uses a wood-fired furnace to heat his home in Holts Summit. “They’re trying to regulate it out of existence, I believe, and they really have no concern about the economic consequences or the hardship it’s going to cause.”
Others contend the real hardship has fallen on neighbors forced to breathe the smoke from winter wood fires.
Read more via News from The Associated Press.

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Air, Sustainable LivingTags , , , Leave a comment on Air quality & smoke impacts in Sonoma County

Air quality & smoke impacts in Sonoma County

Barbara Lee, SONOMA COUNTY GAZETTE
Air Pollution Control Officer of the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District
Air quality is measured against standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board for specific pollutants.  When air quality doesn’t meet a standard, the local air district has to develop a plan of regulations that will improve air quality until it does meet the standard.  Air quality regulations vary from district to district because they reflect local air quality needs.
Sonoma County spans two air regions. The southern portion of the County is managed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which includes eight other Counties around the San Francisco Bay. The Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District manages the remainder of the county. Most of Sonoma County’s cities are included in the Bay Area District.
Only the cities of Healdsburg and Cloverdale are in the Northern Sonoma District, which also includes the towns along the lower Russian River and the entire Sonoma Coast.  Anyone interested in more information about the boundary line can view a map of the County showing both air districts at: www.sonoma-county.org/tpw/divisions/nsc_air_pollution/.
The most significant pollutants in Sonoma County are ozone (a component of smog), and particle pollution (which we refer to as particulate matter, or PM).  We know this by measuring pollutants in the air.  The Bay Area District operates a monitoring station on 5th Street in Santa Rosa.  The air quality in the Bay Area does not meet the federal or state standards for ozone or particulate matter.  The Northern Sonoma District operates air monitoring stations in Cloverdale, Healdsburg, and Guerneville.  Air quality in Northern Sonoma meets all of the federal and state standards – along with Lake County, it is the cleanest air in California!
Most people understand that smog is harmful, but many people don’t know what particulate matter is or why we’re concerned about it.  Particles in the air come from a variety sources and have varying chemical make-ups. The size of a particle determines how far past our bodies’ defenses it can penetrate. We are most concerned about particles small enough to penetrate deep into our lungs, specifically known as inhalable and fine particles.
Inhalable particles are generally smaller than 10 microns in diameter (often called PM10) and come mostly from fine dust and combustion. By comparison, the average human hair is about 70 microns in diameter and fine grains of beach sand are about 90 microns. Inhalable particles have been shown to cause or contribute to a long list of adverse health effects, including: increased respiratory symptoms, pneumonia, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; exacerbation of asthma; increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits; increased risk of premature births and infant mortality; and an increase in cancer, cardiovascular, and respiratory deaths, as well as increased total mortality.
Fine particles are a subset of inhalable particles. These are the smaller particles in that group, less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5). These particles penetrate so deeply that they get carried throughout the body where they interfere with cellular processes.Fine particles also tend to be more reactive and are responsible for some of the most significant of the health effects. Fine particles come mostly from combustion, including factories, cars, and fireplaces and woodstoves.
Read more via NO SMOKING PLEASE – Air Quality & Smoke Impacts in Northern Sonoma County.