Word: woode
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...Although wood in many areas has the virtue of being cheap, home-grown and renewable, its use as fuel exacts a terrible toll. In such cities as Denver, Portland, Ore., and Missoula, more than half the minute solids in the winter air, so-called particulates, may stem from wood burning. Geography compounds the problem when there are atmospheric inversions; in mountain-rimmed Missoula last week, low-lying cold air was trapped under a smothering blanket of warmer air, preventing the escape of particulates...
...control industrial wastes and the fumes of the internal combustion engine, not contamination from individual homes. When governments try to invade this sacred terrain, the political effects can be incendiary. Explains Barbara Evans, a member of the board of Missoula County commissioners, which passed bitterly contested legislation controlling home wood fires: "People feel their personal rights are being invaded. They become angry, frustrated...
...reduce pollution would be to get stoves to burn at higher temperatures so they would emit less waste. Manufacturers have developed smaller, more efficient stoves. But poor burning practices abound. Homeowners sometimes toss green, moist wood into their fires, along with rubbish and newspapers. (The EPA recommends wood that has been air-dried at least a year.) Mark Loding, a chimney sweep who practices his Dickensian craft in the Charlevoix-Petoskey-Harbor Springs area of Michigan, is appalled by the fire making habits of his customers. Says he: "Chimneys are clogged with nasty stuff. People are putting in too much...
...Missoula County tried persuasion, adopting a voluntary plan that called for avoiding green wood and fires on smoggy days, and installing cleaner stoves. The approach failed. When the county commissioners held public hearings last year on tougher measures, a hastily organized group calling itself the United Woodburners of Missoula County staged a "Right to Burn" march that flaunted placards proclaiming WOODBURNERS ARE WARM PEOPLE. In November the commissioners passed a watered-down set of regulations that empowered local inspectors to slap warnings and then citations carrying fines up to $100 on those who continue to burn wood during a pollution...
...Wood burning is an old Western American tradition. It's a way of life a lot of people truly enjoy." To which Clean-Air Proponent Westenberg replies, "Controlling a stove is no different than controlling sewage. We're subsidizing lower fuel bills with our health." - By Frederic Golden...