PLATTSBURGH — New York residents have until July to comment on the state's plan to limit the kinds of open burning allowed statewide.

The Department of Environmental Conservation introduced revisions to its open-burning law during the summer of 2008 and has decided to continue the public-comment period until June 26.

ALL TOWNS INCLUDED
The state currently bans the burning of all residential waste in any city or village or in any town with a total population greater than 20,000.

Those rules do not cover most of the communities across the North Country.

But the new DEC proposal strengthens that law by extending the ban to all open burning regardless of town size, with exceptions for barbecue grills, small wood fires, some on-site burning of agricultural waste and certain bonfires that use untreated wood or other agricultural products.

HEALTH ISSUES
"The composition of the residential solid waste generated today differs significantly from 30 years ago when the current Part 215 (burning regulation) was promulgated," reads the Regulatory Impact Statement Summary from the DEC Web site.

"Plastics and other types of synthetic packaging of consumer products are a large part of today's waste stream. Smoke or emissions containing toxic compounds and particles is released into the air by the burning or combustion of plastics and other synthetic materials.

"The smoke from so-called burn barrels or backyard burning is often released from a smoldering fire, with little dispersion and at ground level, where people can easily breathe it.

"Exposure to this smoke may cause eye and nose irritation, coughing, nausea, headaches or dizziness. It may also trigger asthma attacks, aggravate heart and lung problems and increase the risk of other chronic health problems upon repeated exposure."

DIOXIN CONCERNS
The legislation, if approved, will supersede any local burn-barrel restrictions, an issue of high importance in areas that are considering local laws on burn barrels.

"We're still seeing a lot of burn barrels," said Donald Hassig of Cancer Action N.Y., a regional environmental watchdog from St. Lawrence County. "Open burning is still a prominent source of dioxins and still needs to be dealt with."

Hassig has long been a proponent for reducing dioxins in the environment through restrictions on burn barrels. Open burning typically involves slow-burning fires with poor combustion, which causes higher levels of dioxins to be emitted into the air, he explained.

Dioxins, which are known cancer-causing agents, then settle on the land and in water, where they are consumed by livestock and fish and can eventually be passed on to human beings, Hassig said.

On a related note, Cancer Action NY recently resurrected a petition submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004 calling for rule-making that would reduce dioxin exposure in the United States.

The proposal would provide for a ban on the feeding of animal fats to food animals and require labeling that notifies consumers of the presence of dioxins in animal-fat-containing foods, including fat-containing dairy products, meats and eggs.



E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com