Letters to the Editor

Sue the dealer

not the Village

Editor:

Re: Granisle outdoor wood boiler dispute:

It’s time for people to look at the whole picture.

The outdoor wood boiler that Daniels and Cummings bought was killing themselves, as well as Archambault, the neighbour.

According to the B.C. Lung Association [outdoor wood boilers] emit a very toxic smoke that contributes to many health problems (potentially also to Cummings’ pre-existing heart problems).

It’s time the purchasers consider suing the dealer who sold them the unit.

They would get tremendous support from many experts.

Carolyn Archambault

Granisle

Village defends OWB ban

Editor:

Re: The Interior News article in the Aug. 20 issue, “Tempers boil over outdoor furnace.”

We always thought that responsible journalists verified the facts before publishing a story.

Sir, you failed miserably. We did not have and still do not have a clean air bylaw.

Our bylaw banning the use of “Outdoor Wood-fired Boilers” (OWBs) is not a clean air bylaw, per se, as Burns Lake, Houston and Smithers have.

Their clean air bylaw, in part, is to replace old indoor woodstoves, which emit a high amount of Particulate Matter, with new generation catalytic stoves which meet the particle emissions standards of 2.5 grams per hour.

Recently, Vanderhoof put in a bylaw banning the use of OWBs in their urban area after some were installed in their downtown core, we definitively were not the first to do so. Fraser Lake is another Municipality who is looking into putting such a bylaw in place.

OWNs employ very primitive combustion technology. When the water circulating through the furnace reaches an upper set point (usually around 180 degrees Fahrenheit; burning wood flames at 1,000 degrees F) the air supply is cut-off, cooling the fire so the water does not overheat.

The furnace operates in this “idle” mode until the water temperature hits a lower set point and the air supply is re-established.

Under some conditions, the OWB may be in idle mode far longer than in operating mode. This type of operating causes very poor combustion and heavy foul smoke. Most of the smoke emitted is fine condensed organic material that does not burn under cool, oxygen starved conditions. Tests done by NESCAUM found that the average fine particle emissions (a particularly harmful pollutant) from one OWB are equivalent to the emissions from 22 catalytic woodstoves, 2,005 oil furnaces, as many as 8,000 natural gas furnaces, four heavy duty diesel trucks on a gram per hour basis.

According to environmental toxicologist Uni Blake, wood smoke is a complex mixture of chemicals and particulates. It contains carbon monoxide and other gases, particulate matter, chemicals, and some inorganic gases.

Some of these compounds such as aldehydes and phenols, are toxic, while others, like benzoprene and cresols, are known carcinogens.

At the May 26, 2008 regular, open council meeting, Council unanimously passed motion No. 2008-117 instructing the CAO to proceed with the implementation of a bylaw to ban the use of Outdoor Wood-fired Boilers within the Village’s boundaries.

We have consulted with Northern Health, the B.C. Lung Association, the provincial Ministry of Environment in Smithers and all of them are supportive of our bylaw and all of them agree they should never be installed in urban centres.

Also, a copy of the bylaw has been deposed, as required by legislation, with the Ministry of Health.

The OWB, in question, was in use four days after the bylaw was in force; final adoption was July 28, 2008 and the ticket was issued at 5:10 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2008, by right, and as the bylaw states, we could have issued a ticket for all four days, so we think we were very tolerant.

The July 21, 2008 council meeting was publicized according to the rules stipulated in the Community Charter.

Daniels and Cummings were invited to state their case before Council, they did not appear before Council but the daughter Leslie Monteith did appear on their behalf.

At the July 28, 2008, council meeting, at our request and with the thought of educating out citizens on the health hazards of OWBs, Benjamin Weinstein, Air Quality Meteorolgist, of the Ministry of Environment did a presentation on OWBs and their effect on air quality.

As for the petition, strange, the number of petitioners keep changing, Council did not see it as relevant as those signatures were obtained under false pretence; when Council learned of the petition and its content, Council mailed a notice to everyone in town explaining what OWBs are all about and assuring them we were not banning woodstoves but only outdoor wood-fired boilers.

After reading the notice people commented that had they known this they would not have signed the petition.

G. M. Ewald

Mayor and Council,

Village of Granisle