County, air pollution district try to solve smoke problems locally

After four years of work to reduce the air pollution in the San Lorenzo Valley caused by smoke from wood-burning fireplaces, the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District reports that it has not seen significant improvements to the air quality of the region.
“We’re not seeing a great change in the pollution levels, but that’s dependent on the weather,” said Air Pollution Control Officer Richard Stedman. “It’s one of the worst areas we have in our jurisdiction.”
Despite the district’s programs that include woodstove change-out grants, public outreach and education sessions, and voluntary Spare the Air days, smoke levels remain regularly 10 times higher than federal environmental standards deem acceptable.
The situation has become so serious that officials from the district and Santa Cruz County say that, unless major results occur within the next two years, intervention by the federal Environmental Protection Agency could become a reality.
“We think that if things continue as they are, the EPA will designate us a non-attainment area,” Stedman said. “That comes with a lot of requirements — currently we exceed their standards and it’s not even close.”
In an effort to keep the fight against air pollution a local show, representatives of the county and district met last Thursday to discuss possible solutions to reach out to more residents, as well as to find avenues of securing additional funds to help outreach programs.
“I would rather address problems and see if we can handle it locally than have the federal government come in and tell us, ‘This is what you’re going to do,’” said Fifth District Supervisor Bruce McPherson. “This is a big issue and something that’s of concern for hundreds and thousands (of residents).”
McPherson acknowledged that, while woodstoves are “a way of life in the San Lorenzo Valley,” it is of utmost importance for the community to participate in the process of finding reasonable compromises.
“I want to assure everybody that decisions are not going to be made without input,” he said. “We have a lot of summer cabins that have become year-round homes … this is not a program to come in and take the woodstove out of your house.”
Stedman said that, moving forward, while the district may need to adopt more stringent policies — making Spare the Air days required instead of voluntary was one such potential example he mentioned — the district would make every effort to be mindful of those residents for whom a woodstove is the sole source of heat.
“The exception (to a mandatory Spare the Air day) would be for those that use their woodstove as their sole source of heat,” he said. “We really don’t want to alarm the public and say Big Brother is coming.”
In the meantime, the district and county is seeking ways to find additional grant monies, with the goal of expanding the district’s woodstove replacement program, which has contributed several hundred thousand dollars toward helping residents replace woodstoves with cleaner-burning alternatives.
“I credit the (district) for continuing its change-out program,” McPherson said, adding that it had continued to do so in 2014 despite a budgetary constraint. “They really didn’t have the money to do it, and they managed to get $75,000 out there.”
Still, the 50 or so stoves that $75,000 was able to help replace represents a drop in the bucket in a valley that McPherson said could have upwards of 10,000 woodstoves.
“We’re making a dent as we go forward,” Stedman said. “We appreciate that people might not be able to change out (their woodstoves), but we’re looking for more dollars to help everybody — we don’t even know how many woodstoves are out there.”
In the meantime, Stedman encouraged those with woodstoves to reduce their smoke output as much as possible by making sure to only burn clean, dry wood, and to not let coals smolder overnight — the time when smoke is at its thickest in the valley.
“If we could get the public to not dampen the stove down at night, that would help,” he said. “You don’t have to have the fire choked out all night — that’s a smoke bomb.”
Stedman said that the district is also partnered with Central Coast Energy Services which provides homeowners access to assistance programs to help weatherproof homes — a particular need for the plentiful — and often inadequately insulated — former summer cabins in the San Lorenzo Valley.
Doing so, he said, would reduce the need to burn so much fuel as heat would not be lost via drafty doors and windows.
The district and the county plan on redoubling efforts to reach out to the San Lorenzo Valley communities to provide information about the district and the necessity of reducing pollution.
“It’s really a public health issue that really has a negative impact on a lot of people,” McPherson said. “We want to go about it in the best way and get cooperation … we don’t want to be a police officer in this situation and we’re not going to be.”
For more information about the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District, visit www.mbuapcd.org or call 647-9411.