As one who lives in "Upstate California", there are rice fields and other ag
surrounding me. The only burning of fields is the rice stubble after the
harvest. There is quite a controversy going on, as it is evidently
necessary to get rid of the stubble before planting the next season, and
there is no economical way to do it, except burning. There is even some
kind of fungus that grows in it, if it is not removed. The farmers have
tried plowing it under, but it doesn't break down over the winter. They
have even tried making rice straw insulation, rice straw energy production,
rice straw "anything", but I guess the economics just doesn't work. Everyone
is very aware of the smoke problem, and the rice fields are burned only on
certain days - usually when a good North wind is blowing - so we have nice
clear air, and the smoke all goes south to Sacramento. ;-) Not to worry,
though - the politicians have set a date by which all burning will have
stopped - it's currently being phased out.
I think this smog problem is a lot bigger than just one or two industries or
geographical locations. The ag people are really hurting, and have been for
awhile, and I wouldn't be in favor of saddling them with too many more
special rules and regulations.
I personally don't have a problem with smog emission controls, or with
gettng smoking vehicles (whether they are new or old) off of the road. I
also don't like the idea of forcing the junking of "classic" vehicles (I
only own 1 car that is newer than 1979, and 9 that are older!) It seems
that, as reasonable people, somethng could be worked out - but probably not
when political egos are involved, or party politics.
David Gunn, TR2 in Chico, CA
>From: "Michael Andrews" <mandrews53@earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: "Michael Andrews" <mandrews53@earthlink.net>
>To: Fred Thomas <vafred@erols.com>, Randall Young <ryoung@navcomtech.com>,
> Triumphs <triumphs@autox.team.net>
>Subject: Re: Dean Florez (was Question About Smog Control in England)
>Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 20:41:49 -0800
>
>I have driven up state --lots of agriculture ---rice and things --they have
>a quaint custom of burning off the fields --an amazing thing to see and
>impossible to see through( or breathe) when you drive into one of these
>smoky clouds that blanket the road and area--Maybe they need to change
>their
>harvesting techniques-
>Mike TR2inLA
>
>----------
> >From: "Fred Thomas" <vafred@erols.com>
> >To: "Randall Young" <ryoung@navcomtech.com>, "Triumphs"
><triumphs@autox.team.net>
> >Subject: Re: Dean Florez (was Question About Smog Control in England)
> >Date: Tue, Mar 4, 2003, 3:00 PM
> >
>
> >> According to an article in Saturday's LA Times, Kern county (where Sen
> >> Florez is from) has some of the worst air in California, even worse
>than
> > LA.
> >> In an interview, he talked about kids not being able to breathe and
> > whatnot.
> >> I know from recent experience that it's terrifying to watch your kid
>have
> > an
> >> asthma attack.
> > ================================================================
> > Now Randall why should the folks 500 miles away be subjected to
>something
> > happening in his district, pass a smog bill for his district not the
>entire
> > state, and smog is not caused just from smoking or oil burning cars, the
> > last reports I read talked about the worst polluters were the
>==catalytic
> > converters== as being the problems, anyway, whats bad for San Francisco
>does
> > not mean it's bad for San Diego, here in N. Virginia we have emission
> > inspection in only 6 counties out of over 50, so it is according to
> > locations needs and not just a blanket statewide forced laws from
>special
> > interest ($$$$) politicians, and I still bet he owns or has owned some
>car
> > dealerships. "FT"
>
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