Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

Clearing the Air

By Ben Meisner

Regardless of what study is undertaken, where air quality is concerned in this city, we always come up with the same result . 

We have some of the poorest air in the province. 

The Heart and Lung has also found the same result in its most recent study. 

So where do we concentrate our efforts? 

Well first we go after a few bars in town that allow smoking, citing the evils of the drug.  

Then low and behold, in every single story that is written by the government of the day, we lay a major share of the blame on those people who burn wood. 

What rubbish!  

Of course wood stoves contribute to the air quality and those people who burn their garbage in open pits in the back of their homes should be fined, but to suggest the wood stoves are in some way a major culprit also, just doesn’t meet the test. 

Before we lay a licking on the local folk who in many cases must burn wood, drop the hammer on the real culprits, industry.

The refinery (which by the way doesn’t give us a break in the price of our gas while still dumping pollutants into our air) pulp mills, who like to have use believe they are clean, the mills and major industry are responsible for over 90% of the problem. 

Fix that section of the problem and I’m sure every single person who burns a wood stove will throw it out with the bath water, but until then, quit using them as the whipping boys. 

I'm Meisner, and that, is one man's opinion.
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