BAAQMD Model Ordinance

	BAY AREA AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

January 26, 1999

Dear City Official:
The Board of Directors of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has approved a model ordinance to reduce wood smoke from fireplaces. If adopted by a local community, the ordinance would require that fireplaces in new or remodeled construction be either EPA certified, pellet stoves or natural gas units. The ordinance does not ban fireplaces.
I am enclosing a packet of information on the model ordinance, including the ordinance, the resolution adopted by the Board of Directors, a fact sheet and a compilation of health studies on particulate matter. I hope you will review this information and consider bringing it to your city or county for adoption, particularly if your community has an existing wood smoke problem.
The Air District is concerned with wood burning because fireplaces and wood stoves generate 40 percent of the particulate matter in the Bay Area during the winter months. Of greatest concern are the fine particles, which can lodge deep in the lungs causing permanent lung damage and increasing mortality. The model ordinance would reduce the particulate pollution generated by a traditional fireplace by 75 percent for an EPA certified stove and 99 percent for a natural gas unit. Burning wood also generates carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, volatile organics and toxic air pollutants.
The Bay Area meets the present federal health standard for particulate matter. However, we routinely violate the stricter California state standard. Because of increasing health studies on the dangers of fine particulate matter, the EPA recently promulgated a stricter federal standard that will become effective in 2002. It is unclear whether the Bay Area will meet the new EPA standard for fine particulate matter without additional controls.
The model wood smoke ordinance can be adopted as a whole or you may consider adopting only those provisions that are most applicable to your community. Air District staff are available to assist you. Please call Luna Salaver at (415) 749-5196 if you have questions about the ordinance or to request that an Air District representative meet with your community to discuss it.
Thank you for your consideration and for your efforts to make the Bay Area a cleaner and healthier place to live.
Sincerely,
(Signed)
Ellen Garvey
Executive Officer/
Air Pollution Control Officer
939 ELLIS STREET * SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94109 * (415) 771-6000 * FAX (415) 928-8560

A MODEL ORDINANCE PERTAINING
TO THE REDUCTION OF AIR POLLUTION BY REGULATING THE
NEW CONSTRUCTION OR REPLACEMENT OF WOODBURNING APPLIANCES

5BE IT ORDAINED BY the City or County of
[________________________________]:
WHEREAS, the State Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted a particulate matter (PM10) Ambient Air Quality Standard (AAQS) in December, 1982, and levels for the PM IO AAQS were selected pursuant to California Code of Regulations Title 17 Section 70200 to protect the health of people who are sensitive to exposure to fine particles; and
WHEREAS, research indicates that woodsmoke is a significant contributor to PM10 levels that pose significant health risks; and
WHEREAS, the [_______________] desires to lessen the risk to life and property from air pollution from woodbuming appliances; and
WHEREAS, the [_______________] finds that the proposed regulation will significantly reduce the increase in particulate emissions from future installation and construction activities; and,
WHEREAS, the [_______________] finds a need exists to adopt regulations which apply to woodbuming combustion emissions; and
The [_______________] Code shall be amended by adding the following:
APPLICABILITY: This ordinance shall apply within the limits of the [city, county] of [_______________] as specified herein.
All wood burning appliances installed in new residential units or woodburning appliances being added to or replacing woodbuming appliances in existing residential units shall comply with this Ordinance.
All woodbuming appliances installed in new commercial buildings or woodbuming appliances being added to or replacing woodbuming appliance in existing commercial buildings shall comply with this ordinance. Commercial buildings shall include, but not be limited to, hotels and restaurants.
Gas fireplaces shall be exempt from this ordinance. However, the conversion of a gas fireplace to burn wood shall constitute the installation of a woodbuming appliance and shall be subject to the requirements of this ordinance.
A woodbuming appliance shall comply with this ordinance if (1) it is reconstructed, (2) additions, alterations, or repairs are made to the appliance that require opening up immediately-adjacent walls, or (3) the residential unit or commercial building in which the appliance is located is renovated, and the renovation includes opening up walls immediately adjacent to the appliance.
DEFINITIONS:
1. "Bay Area Air Quality Management District" means the air quality agency for the San Francisco Bay Area pursuant to California Health and Safety Code Section 40200.
2. "E.P.A." means United States Environmental Protection Agency.
3. "E.P.A. certified wood heater" means any wood heater that meets the standards in Title 40, Part 60, Subpart AAA, Code of Federal Regulations in effect at the time of installation and is certified and labeled pursuant to those regulations.
4. "Fireplace" means any permanently installed masonry or factory-built woodbuming appliance, except a pellet-fueled wood heater, designed to be used with an air-to-fuel ratio greater than or equal to 35 to 1.
5. "Garbage means all solid, semi-solid and liquid wastes generated from residential, commercial and industrial sources, including trash, refuse, rubbish, industrial wastes, asphaltic products, manure, vegetable or animal solids and semi-solid wastes, and other discarded solid and semi-solid wastes.
6. "Gas fireplace" means any device designed to burn natural gas in a manner that simulates the appearance of a woodbuming fireplace.
7. "Paints" means all exterior and interior house and trim paints, enamels, varnishes, lacquers, stains, primers, sealers, undercoatings, roof coatings, wood preservatives, shellacs, and other paints or paint-like products.
8. 'Paints solvents" means all original solvents sold or used to thin paints or to clean up painting equipment.
9. 'Pellet-fueled wood heater" means any woodbuming appliance that operates exclusively on wood pellets.
10. "Solid fuel" means wood or any other non-gaseous or non-liquid fuel.
11. "Treated wood" means wood of any species that has been chemically impregnated, painted or similarly modified to improve resistance to insects or weathering.
12. "Waste petroleum products" means any petroleum product other than gaseous fuels that has been refined from crude oil, and has been used, and as a result of use, has been contaminated with physical or chemical impurities.
13. "Woodbuming appliance" means fireplace, wood heater, or pellet-fired wood heater or any similar device burning any solid fuel used for aesthetic or space-heating purposes.
GENERAL REQUMENTS: It shall be unlawful to:
1 Use any woodbuming appliance when the Bay Area Air Quality Management District issues a "Spare the Air Tonight" warning and when an alternate approved heat source is available.
2. Install a woodbuniing appliance that is not one of the following: (1) a pellet-fueled wood heater, (2) an EPA certified wood heater, or, (3) a fireplace certified by EPA should EPA develop a fireplace certification program.
3. Use any of the following prohibited fuels in a woodbuming appliance.
ENFORCEMENT: Any person who plans to install a woodbuming appliance must submit documentation to the [building department of city or county] demonstrating that the appliance is a pellet-fueled wood heater, an EPA certified wood heater, or a fireplace certified by EPA should EPA develop a fireplace certification program.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punishable as provided by law.
IF ANY SECTION, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase or word of this ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The [_____________] of the [______________] hereby declares that it would have passed and adopted this ordinance and all provisions thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more of said provision be declared unconstitutional.
INTRODUCED and ordered Posted/Published this [______] day of [__________] ADOPTED this [______] day of [______] by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTAIN:

ATTEST:
_____________________________
p:\general\boardmem\modord
_____________________________
APPROVED AS TO FORM
_____________________________

BAAQMD Staff Recommendations leading to "Model Code" Banning Fireplaces

Back to Fireplace Emissions

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