Fort Collins Weekly
February 2006
How well do you really know your city? Did you know that you can go to jail for not meeting the opacity standards for home wood-smoke emissions?
Allow me to explain.
With home heating bills on the rise, you might be inspired to turn down the thermostat and light a cozy fire in your wood stove. Think again. The City of Fort Collins disapproves. Grab one of their handy (taxpayer-funded) “Wood Burning in Fort Collins” brochures, and you’ll learn that “The City recommends that you avoid using your fireplace or wood stove to protect the health of yourself and your neighbors.” According to the City, “Wood smoke is a complex mixture of toxic substances that damage indoor and outdoor air, causing health and air quality problems.”
Fort Collins has an aggressive program to discourage you from burning wood. First of all, only EPA-approved stoves can be installed in the city (a building permit is required.) If you happen to have an older stove, the City will give you a zero-interest five-year loan of up to $2,300 to replace it.
But this subsidized “encouragement” is apparently not enough for the City of Fort Collins. They’re also trying to enlist citizens to be their eyes and their ears for the enforcement of stringent wood-burning standards.
Here’s how it works: If your neighbor deems the smoke or odor from your wood stove to be a problem he or she can call the Wood Smoke Response Line (221-6600) and complain. According to the brochure, “the City then sends a letter and this brochure to all homes in the area, including the source of the smoke. The City will work with the caller to educate the neighborhood and ensure the source is complying with City Code.”
Got that? If one of your neighbors complains about the odor emanating from the chimney on top of your house, the City sends a letter to all of your neighbors letting them in on the process. Talk about government overreach.
But wait, it gets better. The City of Fort Collins (apparently with nothing better to do) has set forth standards for that smoke coming from your chimney. Here’s the regulation: “After the first 15-minutes of start-up, smoke from the chimney must be at or less than 20% opacity (smoke should be barely visible looking at it with your back to the sun).” So now that all of your neighbors know that the City is investigating, perhaps you can invite everyone over, light up a fire in the fireplace, set an egg time for 15 minutes, and try to decide among the assembled group whether the smoke is “barely visible.”
Pretty funny, huh? Not really. There’s quite a lot riding on that 20% opacity determination. According to the City’s brochure, a violation “can result in a summons to appear in municipal court resulting in a fine of up to $1,000 and 180 days in jail.”
Where does it end? The City is so fanatical about the apparent suffocating pollution caused by wood burning that they’re not only regulating wood stoves, they’re also using tax dollars to help people buy cleaner stoves and have set up a system that encourages people to rat out neighbors.
Wood smoke is the tip of the iceberg. The City Code is rife with social engineering. Taxpayer-funded City programs offer up $50 if you want to replace your clothes washer, $110 - $225 if you’re replacing your air conditioner, even free weatherization programs to make sure you’re not using too much energy.
If you’re of the opinion that these types of programs are the responsibility of your city government, fine. But as a taxpayer, you’re paying for the Wood Smoke Response Line and the flashy brochure. You’re paying the salaries of the bureaucracy. You’re even paying to fund your neighbor’s home improvements.
Is this how you want your money to be spent?
