| Attention East Longmeadow residents: The Concerned Citizens for Clean and Air and Good Health, seek your support in our effort to regulate Outdoor Wood Boilers (OWBs). Presently in East Longmeadow, anyone can purchase, install, and operate an OWB without a permit and without regulation. Smoke from OWBs has been widely recognized as a significant threat to Public Health by several organizations including the American Lung Association, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and NESCAUM, (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management). Wood smoke from OWBs lingers close to ground level and can travel thousands of feet. Even when it can't be seen, wood smoke is a significant contributor to air pollution and contains carcinogens and other toxins such as: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, soot, and fine particulates that cause serious health problems, particularly among children, pregnant women, and people with asthma and/or other respiratory diseases. One OWB unit emits as much fine particlulate pollution as 45 passenger cars or 1800 homes with natural gas heat. Caution: Your densely populated neighborhood could be the future site of an Outdoor Wood Boiler. Don't let this happen to you and your children. If you are concerned about the quality of air and quality of life in the Town of East Longmeadow, please join our cause. Show your support by joining us at 7 p.m on the evening of November 20, 2007, for a public hearing at the East Longmeadow High School Auditorium. The Town of East Longmeadow needs to establish meaningful regulations which compare favorably with regulations that many other communites have recently adopted. Protect your health and protect your property values. "CLEAN AIR" is a guaranteed right protected by the "Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Dennis Bruno |
