Recent Air Quality in the Graton Area

[joah]

Has anyone else noticed the poor air quality around the Graton area in the last couple of weeks? I understand that there are proscribed burns going on this time of year, but on certain days recently, the smoke/air pollutants in our area has seemed excessive. I, personally, am having difficulty breathing outside my home on certain days in the past two weeks.

Does anyone know of anything that can be done to stop, or at least alleviate the problem?

Are the burn rules being properly enforced in our area?

Do we need some new local regulations to lessen the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases we are putting into our air?

[Zeno Swijtink]

Has anyone else noticed the poor air quality around the Graton area in the last couple of weeks? I understand that there are proscribed burns going on this time of year, but on certain days recently, the smoke/air pollutants in our area has seemed excessive. I, personally, am having difficulty breathing outside my home on certain days in the past two weeks.

Does anyone know of anything that can be done to stop, or at least alleviate the problem?

Are the burn rules being properly enforced in our area?

Do we need some new local regulations to lessen the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases we are putting into our air?

I put this message on the list of the Atascadero Creek and Green Valley Creek Watershed Council, and got this reply:

From: "Robert Rawson" <[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:44:47 -0700
Subject: RE: [agv-watershedcouncil] Fwd: Recent Air Quality in the Graton Area

What a shame it is that we keep burning all of this valuable carbon feed stock, when it could be used to grow highly nutritious, valuable, great tasting mushrooms locally. The current advisors to our agricultural community prefer to have this “waste” converted into smog, carbon monoxide, dioxin and particulates that choke us all. If anyone is interested in alternatives they should speak with Mia Rose Maltz of the Rites Project, or join SOMA and try to educate the agricultural community. Graton CSD would take all the grape pruning material it can get for its own mycorestoration project provided that the cuttings were not recently sprayed with anything toxic. I understand the concerns growers have about insect and plant diseases. I think that this issue still comes down to “We have always done it this way” or “it’s cheaper for us to dump our waste into the air than haul it away” mentality. If mushrooms do not appeal then hw about biochar and map gas for energy production. Ed Burton has developed a great technology for this purpose.

Bob Rawson

[joah]

[I am re-posting this because I think it may have gotten lost in the shuffle. I'd be interested in hearing from anybody who is interested in joining me in making some calls to our Representatives.]

I am glad to see other folks concerned about the all pollution going into our air due to the unnecessary agricultural burning in the Graton area. As Shayna writes: "there are lots of restrictions on home fireplaces. Would it not be better to change the system as it stands now to allow only necessary burning such as heating our homes?"




POSSSIBLE ACTIONS TO TAKE AND PEOPLE TO CALL

I think that the idea the of the town sending around wood chipper to area farms is a good one. Also offering educational programs on large scale composting geared toward farmers might be helpful. I think Zeno's idea of getting the Sonoma County Asthma Coalition involved is a good one.


I've been thinking about trying to introduce a long-term, legislative solution to the problem. Toward that end, I've called Board members of the Bay Area Quality Management District who, I believe, have the authority to introduce such legislation. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District also regulates burning in the Graton area. Their number is (415) 771- 6000. The number to call in a complaint (which, in my experience, won't do you any good, unless you enjoy hearing that the folks doing the burning probably have permits, and there's nothing they can do about the problem) is (800) 334-6367. The BAAQMD Board of Director's website is:
www.baaqmd.gov/brd/brddirectors/index.htm


Supervisor Jerry Hill (650) 363-4568 is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the BAAQMD. I have spoken with his aide, Eric (650) 363-4314.


Pamela Tooliet, the mayor of Petaluma, is the vice-chair of the BAQMD Board. Her number is 763-6825. I haven't her back from her yet.

Tim Smith is the Sonoma County Representative on the Air Quality Board. His number is 565-2241. I have spoken with his aide, Alison.

Mike Reily is our 5th District Representative. His number is 565-2241. I have spoken with his aide, Carol.

David Farr is the inspector in charge of enforcing buring regulations in the Graton area. His number is (415) 749-5084.

The other air quality control district in Graton is Northern Sonoma County Air Quality District. Their number is: (707) 433-5911.

I think that if everyone concerned about this burning/air quality issue called these offices in the next week or so, and expressed their concerns, we might have a real chance of instituting some change in the regulations. A large number of folks calling would be a real wake-up call to the our Representatives.



Thanks to all who have spoken up and expressed concern about the quality of our air,

Josh