|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Editorials
County should restrict burning near cities : Editorials : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisCounty should restrict burning near cities
| 7/19/2012
|
Back in the bad old days when smoking was still permitted in restaurants and bars, many non-smokers didn't want to be seated next to other restaurant patrons who smoked. The non-smokers didn't want to have to breath the cancer-causing toxins from cigarettes or have to wash the smoke out of their clothes or hair when they got home.
Essentially, that's the same situation we have only on a much larger scale today in Kendall County when it comes to leaf and landscape burning. The Villages of Oswego and Montgomery and the Cities of Yorkville and Plano all wisely banned leaf burning in the interest of public health years ago. The Kendall County Board also banned leaf burning in the unincorporated Boulder Hill and Shore Heights Subdivisions between Oswego and Montgomery.
But smoke from leaf and landscaping fires continues to pose a health hazard to residents of the county's municipalities since their neighbors in unincorporated subdivisions that adjoin municipal limits are still free to burn. The problem has become more acute over the past 15 years as county municipalities have extended their boundaries and large subdivisions like Heartland in Yorkville and Blackberry Crossing in Montgomery have been built next to what were once isolated, unincorporated subdivisions. The end result is that residents of these incorporated subdivisions can look out their kitchen windows or across their streets and see their unincorporated neighbors burning leaves and pumping toxin-filled smoke into the neighborhood. In Yorkville, smoke from the unincorporated Conover Subdivision frequently pollutes the air on the north side of the city, while in Oswego smoke from leaf fires from the River Heights and Lynwood Subdivisions often hovers over the village's downtown and older neighborhoods to the south and east. The story is the same in Montgomery.
The problem with burning in unincorporated subdivisions immediately adjacent to municipalities is certainly not unique to Kendall County. Other area counties have dealt with this issue with varying degree of success over the past several years.
For example, in Kane County, the county board banned burning by zip codes that adjoin municipalities, while in DeKalb County, the board approved a ban on all landscaping burning within 1,000 feet of municipal limits. Winnebago County has banned burning in unincorporated areas surrounded entirely by one or more municipality.
Sadly, the Kendall County Board has shown no interest in attempting to literally clear the air on this issue. As we reported last week, board members incredibly suggested to a Yorkville resident with a severely asthmatic wife that he purchase a costly whole-house generator to make sure his air conditioning functions properly when his power goes out during the next storm and his unincorporated neighbors start to burn. Why should this man's asthmatic wife be kept a prisoner in her own home just so her neighbors can foul the very air she breathes?
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, smoke from leaf burning produces "particulate matter and hydrocarbons, which contain a number of toxic, irritant and cancer-causing compounds. If inhaled, these microscopic particles can reach the deepest regions of the lung and remain there for months or even years. Breathing particulate matter can increase the chances of respiratory infection, reduce the volume of air inhaled and impair the lungs' ability to use that air. Particulate matter can also trigger asthma attacks in some people."
The county board should forget about telling taxpayers to buy generators and take a stand for public health and amend its open burning ordinance to include a prohibition on leaf and other yard waste burning in unincorporated subdivisions that adjoin county municipalities.
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
