City Council Announcements
November, 19 2013
A. Citywide Wood Burning Prohibition 7:56:03 PM
Council Member Simonsen and Council Member Garrott would like to discuss whether or not the City Council should consider a ban on wood burning for home heating and recreation purposes. Dr. Brian Moench, President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE), recently met with Council Members Simonsen and Garrott, and Councilmember-Elect Mendenhall, and is prepared to present relevant data on the personal, public, and environmental health hazards of wood burning. UPHE has also offered to draft a wood burning ban ordinance to the Council’s specifications.
Following is a brief summary of the some of the key health risks of wood burning:
•The California Air Resources Board has found that “the inhalable particle pollution from one woodstove is equivalent to the amount emitted from 3,000 gas furnaces producing the same amount of heat per unit.”
•The ultrafine size of these particles causes them to behave like gases, leaving no practical way to prevent wood smoke of one fireplace from contaminating neighboring homes.
•The EPA estimates that the lifetime cancer risk from wood stove smoke is twelve times higher than that from an equal volume of second hand tobacco smoke, which is already banned in most places.
•The UPHE reports that stagnant conditions and winter temperature inversions cause wood smoke to hang close to the ground, easily penetrating homes and buildings.
Council Members Simonsen and Garrott are requesting expedited consideration of wood-burning restrictions before the end of the calendar year, and the onset of anticipated winter inversions this season. These might include adopting into ordinance existing Utah DEQ Standards prohibiting wood burning during bad air days, extending these restrictions, or another action.
For those dependent on wood to provide for heating and cooking, Council Members Simonsen and Garrott support the city exploring expansion of its sustainability funding programs to help people transition away from using wood as fuel, in addition to other program goals such as renewable energy and waste management. Council Members Simonsen and Garrott believe a ban on wood burning supports the City Council’s priority statement on sustainability by helping secure a clean airshed for the region.
Ø Is the Council interested in drafting an ordinance banning wood burning as a means to address high-risk air quality problems that affect public health? Councilmember LaMalfa said he would schedule this item for a work session before the end of the year.
Additional
City Council Announcements
November 19th, 2013
For Your Information
A. Meeting with Utah Transit Authority Board
The scheduler for the Utah Transit Authority Board of Trustees confirmed this morning that the best time December 9 for UTA Board members to meet with the City Council is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The scheduler said she was confident that Board Chair Sen. Greg Hughes, Vice Chair H. David Burton, and the chairs of UTA’s three committees could attend then, as well as Salt Lake City’s Board Member Keith Bartholomew. The meeting still would be held at UTA’s Frontline Headquarters.
The reasons for the proposed change are:
1.) Apparently most Board members had planned to attend a 2 p.m. meeting UTA staff had been unaware of.
2.) Keith Bartholomew’s schedule on December 9 requires him to leave at 1 p.m.
It should be noted that the meeting between the UTA Board and the City Council would conflict with the December meeting of the Utah League of Cities & Towns Legislative Policy Committee meeting that is scheduled from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. on December 9.
Ø How many City Council Members would plan to attend the meeting with UTA Board Members? Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director, said they would look at the clipboard announcements to get the results.
B. Draft of Annual Council Meeting’s
A draft of the Annual Council Meeting’s Calendar for 2014 has been placed in each of your red folders. Please let staff know as soon as possible if you see any conflicts with any of these dates.