Outdoor Wood Boiler Hearing

Please join us in the East Longmeadow High School auditorium on Nov. 20, 2007 at 7 p.m. and take part in the public hearing to regulate outdoor wood boilers (OWBs).

The Concerned Citizens for Clean Air And Better Health (CCCABH) request and need your support in our effort to regulate OWBs!

Brimfield, Belchertown, Hampden, Monson, Palmer and West Springfield, are among some two dozen communities in the Commonwealth that have already adopted meaningful regulations because these units are a significant threat to public health and safety. Regulations regarding ownership, seasonal use, a safe and suitable location, proper placement and correct operation of a unit, are all necessary because prolonged exposure to wood smoke will have an adverse effect on your health and the health of your family.

If you prefer breathing clean healthy air and share our concerns that wood smoke is dangerous to your health, please speak out to responsibly regulate OWBs.

Let our E.L. Selectmen and Board of Health know how you feel.

Come listen to a Power Point presentation by our professional representative, a Licensed Engineer, Mr. Curt Freedman, P.E. Let (CCCABH) demonstrate to you that OWBs produce air pollution and emit carcinogens and other toxins such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, soot, and fine particulates (some of the same compounds that sickened the 9/11 rescue workers), which cause serious health problems in children, pregnant women, and asthma sufferers. OWB emissions are bad for the environment and extremely harmful to humans. Massachusetts' new Energy Bill sets ambitious clean air goals which require the cutting of greenhouse gases by 20 percent.

The "Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts" guarantees every citizen the right to "clean water" and "clean air." Our right to a healthful quality of life depends on these two most basic items.

Nov. 20, 2007, 7 p.m. at the ELHS Auditorium.

Dennis Bruno

Member of CCCABH