More Mis-Guided Studies On Air Quality

Monday, March 10, 2008 03:44 AM

How do you sell the public on the idea that smoke from residential wood stoves is responsible for between 15 and 17% of the particulate problem in the city when you don’t even know just how many wood stoves there are in Prince Geoprge?

While the study is yet to see the light of day it has been one of those slip a bit of information to the public sort of on the Q-T and see what falls out.

In the past few weeks I personally have been told on several occasions that wood stoves contribute a major amount to air pollution in the city, but of course that info is not public. Why? If the public is told that using those figures , wood stoves account for a lions share in comparison to other sources for the air quality they are simply going to laugh at the statistics .

The public is not stupid, however each and every time that new figures and new studies are produced dealing with the quality of air in this city, it appears that those preparing the studies are hoping that indeed the public are morons.

If the study and the statistics are to have any credibility the investigators should have started off by knowing exactly how many homes have wood burning appliances. To come up with a figure without having that information shows just how much credibility the study should have.

Again another study has been produced that lays a major portion of the blame on the air quality in this city at the feet of the average home owner without any regard for what really is the root cause of our problems.

In the old days in this city it was called the smell of money. In today’s world it is called the smell of statistics, and I think something stinks.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man's opinion

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Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 03:44 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: owl on March 10 2008 5:36 AM

You are right on the money. The reason they have not come out with the figures yet is because the figures being produced by so-called experts are based on single source data inputs which are not checked against the easily visible realities of how many houses in the bowl actually have wood burning appliances.

There is a study which was conducted in 2004 throughout the province which is also quite suspect with some errors admitted to by the study which err on the side of increasing the level of emissions from such devices.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/air/airquality/pdfs/wood_emissions.pdf

The informtion put out by the propaganda ministry on the weekend during the wood stove exchange is also not quite complete. What they do not tell you is that the new tech wood stove needs to be well maintained since eventual wear and tear of key components of the more complex equipment will render it considerably less efficient than when it is in pristine condition.

The test shown in the videos on this site are also very suspect. PM2.5 particles are not readily visible to the human eye when viewed as close as that and in such small concentrations as that.

I think the stove on the left had creosote emerging from the flue caused by too low a temperature of the fire thus not completely combusting the wood. Provide better air circulation and the oxygen should cause the fire to get hotter and burn the wood more completely.

The test should properly be conducted with monitors that are able to pick up the pollutants which the human eye cannot see as easily.

Posted by: Foo738 on March 10 2008 9:13 AM

quoting Ben:
"those preparing the studies are hoping that indeed the public are morons"

If you can see it, taste it, smell it, it is real. I have a visual vantage point where I observe a clear valley in the morning, the stacks of the pulp mill, the whatever it is rising out of the stacks and if there is no wind moving along the river and blanketing airport hill, the Millar Addition and slowly the downtown. I am not supposed to believe my eyes? It is rather like the story of the Emporer's New Clothes; it took a child to see that the Emporer was naked and to call out "but Mommy he has no clothes on".

Good for you Ben for seeing through all the "smoke".

Posted by: Bridge on March 10 2008 9:54 AM

It is unbelievable how these study groups keep on folgging a dead horse.

But I guess as long as the economy comes first instead of our health they will continue to study, study to keep us in the wings. We can rant and rave all we want but untill we become active and start to FACE those responsible for our poor air quality the air quality in our city will never change.

We know where the polution is coming from and its not just from the stacks across the river the poor maintanance of city roads and the BCR industrial area also play a part in the air quality. The recent nice sunny days we have had were a great time to see the road polution.

Traveling south into the sun light on Ospika one could see the particulate haze hanging above the roadway. Why dont we have air quality monitoring in the residential areas of the city. But then as has already been pointed out we are probably just seen as dumb residents

Cheers

Posted by: guinnessguy on March 10 2008 10:18 AM

Well made points you guys. Of course wood burning stoves cause pollution/particulate matter in the air-shed. Even an old/dumb truck driver like me knows that. So many towns in the country are facing these problems and so few solutions have ever been forth-coming. Start a town down in the valley so we can utilize the rivers... put up our dream houses too close to the rivers to get that all important "view"... and then fill the valley with industry. Then, for the next 1000 years, try to figure out a way to clean the air in theses bowl areas. Our Mayor and council are experts at 3 things in my view...(none of which are improving our no-longer-fair-city). Hiring "experts"...soliciting gov`t taxpayer funding to solve all problems, and setting up endless meetings/ad-hoc committees, study-groups, and yet more "experts". Geography is our enemy...the prevailing winds can`t blow our pollution away, and, short of physically moving all of our pulp/lumber/pellet mills...(as well as the refinery, asphalt, chemical plants etc.), out of towm to higher elevations...we will be hiring experts till doomsday.

Posted by: guinnessguy on March 10 2008 10:32 AM

forgot something....God help us if that "wood furnace to heat city hall" project reaches fruition....
Have a great week everyone.

Posted by: Outwest on March 10 2008 1:25 PM

So easy do go after the little guy with his woodstove, don't look up the hill at the big smokestacks, don't offend the big guys, they may leave if we complain and we
will all be out of work!

Posted by: everstone on March 10 2008 1:49 PM

Never saw anything as stupid as the mayor and MLA,s beating up on an old wood stove.

Posted by: owl on March 10 2008 2:22 PM

At least they were wearing safety glasses. Hopefully nothing too heavy fell on their toes.

;-)

Posted by: lostfaith on March 10 2008 2:44 PM

Perhaps anyone here that works at Northwood pulp could tell us exactly what it is that they pump into the air from that stack located near the mobile shop.
What ever it is, it is chartreuse,(flourescent green) in color.

Posted by: diplomat on March 10 2008 3:00 PM

Owl: "At least they were wearing safety glasses. Hopefully nothing too heavy fell on their toes."

I couldn't help but notice that they did not bother to wear hard hats to protect their brains!

Shouldn't that have been a priority??????

(Just guessing, of course, that one would normally protect such a vital organ).

Posted by: everstone on March 10 2008 4:23 PM

They need to hire some experts and do a study on stove demolition.

Posted by: NMG on March 10 2008 5:54 PM

So when are we going to fill CN Centre in order to demand action from ALL levels of government in regards to our air quality? It's sickening to think that it's pretty much come to that.

Posted by: tinyapplecork on March 10 2008 6:06 PM

ROTFL

Perhaps I'm a moron too...guess I should run for council?? Can't do any worse. lol

My first order of the day...study the hot air emanating from collegues to see if it can prevent the Nechako from freezing, then divert the industry emissions to get heat the pools to save on the carbon tax and offer rebates to all residents who convert their smoky BBQs to the lastest smokeless grill.
Then study the potholes to see if we can all have lakefront property, thereby increasing our housing value to collect more tax to pay for more air quality studies! heee hee....

;)

Posted by: Junco on March 10 2008 10:25 PM

The picture in the Citizen of the Mayor et al beating an old wood stove with sledge hammers was denigrating to the citizens of this town...I mean come on, how gormless and gullible do they think we are?

On the right we have the BAD OLD STOVE...that needs to be destroyed *insert nefarious moo ha ha here* to bring you... the GOOD OLD WOOD BURING PLANT. *insert angelic music and a sprinkling of fairy dust here*

Posted by: Junco on March 10 2008 10:30 PM

Posted by: mdhay on March 10 2008 11:23 PM

There is now a Millar Addition Concerned Citizens Coalition ,who will be meeting this wednesday in the basement of Sacred Heart Elementary school on Patricia Blvd. to see what political action we can taketo stop this biomass wood chip burning plant being situated in the downtown.
There is a real time crunch as the $5.3 million gets handed to the city from the Feds on the 30th June.
If there is no public protest there will be no FULL in depth environmental review of the cummulative effects of particulates in our airshed. So if there are any readers interested, please come and help us.
It is not just the airshed of the Millar addition.
mhay

Posted by: Bridge on March 11 2008 2:07 PM

What time is does the meeting start?

Posted by: youwho on March 11 2008 8:32 PM

I think the meeting is at 7:30 - see you there!

Posted by: mdhay on March 12 2008 1:03 AM

7.0pm today Wed. it starts basement of Sacred Heart School.