Village should reinstate wood-smoke ban

The Aug. 27 letter to the editor by Bill Fischer entitled "Pollution control begins at home" was thought-provoking but convoluted. He is partially correct that pollution control begins in our own backyards.

But it really begins at Mayor Craig Johnson's office. Pollution control will begin in earnest when, along with limiting vehicle idling, the ban on outdoor recreational burning is reinstated. Why allow one type and not the other? They are equal players in the Russian roulette of bad air.

If the Mayor and the Elk Grove Village board of trustees vote against pollution by reinstating the recreational burning ban, they will be applauded by multitudes of citizens who do not burn, who value their health, the use of their properties outdoors breathing cleaner air and the health of their families.

Pollution of any kind does no one any good. The city doesn't profit from pollution or from the increased mortality and morbidity that wood smoke's fine particulates present to human health.

Mr. Fischer sounds like a "no rules" guy. But in a complex society we need regulations to clear our air of the two largest sources of hazardous fine particulate pollution - vehicle exhaust and wood smoke. Please call the Mayor and urge him to reinstate the ban now!

Julie Mellum

President, Take Back the Air

Minneapolis