Check Before You Burn Navigating Perceptions vs. Reality

1. Check Before You BurnNavigating Perceptions vs. Reality Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Jamie Arno and Lori Kobza April 8, 2008 National Air Quality Conference

2. SMAQMD Rule 421Background Information • Public workshops and hearings took place in July, August and September 2007 • Board of Directors requested options • Very emotional and political topic • Rule 421 – Mandatory Episodic Curtailment of Wood and Solid Fuel Burning Restrictions was adopted October 25, 2007

3. SMAQMD Rule 421Background continued • Four-level program based on new PM 2.5 standard (35 ug/m3) • Stage 2 – All Burning Prohibited (forecast to exceed 40 ug/m3) • Stage 1 – No Burn – Unless Exempt (36-40 ug/m3) • Burning Discouraged – Voluntary (26-35 ug/m3) • Burn Cleanly – No Restrictions (25 ug/m3 or lower) • Program uses micrograms per cubic meter, not AQI numbers

5. Outreach Challenges • First season: December 1, 2007 – February 29, 2008 (in future it will begin November 1) • Public needed to be aware of new law prior to December 1 • Public and media used to AQI, but new AQI not developed yet for lower PM 2.5 standard • SMAQMD chose not to use old standard’s AQI numbers • Limited outreach on PM and wood smoke had just started in 2006 so topic relatively new to public

6. Outreach Summary • Web site coverage: • www.AirQuality.org • www.SpareTheAir.com • Daily features: • Burn status category (same day and next day forecasts) – with category descriptions • Frequently asked questions • Rule 421 text • Exemption details • Link to District’s wood stove changeout incentive program

7. Outreach Summary • Over 600 business and community partners distributed Check Before You Burn brochure and Frequently Asked Questions flier • Schools, retailers, chambers of commerce, Sacramento Association of REALTORS • 46,000 English brochures and fliers • 11,000 Spanish brochures and fliers • Established toll-free number: • 1-877-NO-BURN-5 (1-877-662-8765)

8. Outreach Summary • Worked with TV meteorologists to get daily burn status mentioned as part of their report • Provided CD of Check Before You Burn category graphics to each station • All 5 local television stations placed Check Before You Burn on their Web sites linking viewers to the District’s daily burn page • Homeowners Association Web sites linked to daily burn page

9. Outreach Summary • Sacramento Bee newspaper partnership effective with addition of daily burn status graphic to weather page • Print coverage was both immediate and ongoing: • Daily, bi-weekly, and monthly newspapers • Homeowners Association newsletters

10. Advertising • Radio Commercial: • 11 weeks on 10 stations, both Spanish & English • $126,000 spent on radio buy • Print Ads: • 21 community newspapers throughout Sacramento County – including Spanish, Ukrainian and Chinese • Insertions in November, December and January • $30,000 spent on print advertising

11. Media Challenges • Same media market as neighboring San Joaquin Valley Air District’s existing Check Before You Burn program • San Joaquin’s program currently based on old PM 2.5 standard (65 ug/m3) • San Joaquin higher threshold for no burn • Sacramento County would call more no burn days

12. Media Challenges • Four level program with Stage 1 – No Burn – Unless Exempt allowing an extra exemption for EPA Phase II certified devices or pellet stoves • One TV/Web anchor and one radio personality encouraged the public to ignore the law and burn • Church of the Eternal Flame established on-line as anchor’s way of claiming Rule 421’s religious exemption • Radio personality aggressively and repeatedly attacked program – told people to burn

13. Perceptions vs. Reality • Many misconceptions: 1. “This a total ban on fireplaces” – NO 2. “Manufactured firelogs are ok to use on no-burn day” – NO 3. “Police should be tracking down criminals, not looking for smoke” – Law enforcement not involved, District has own enforcement staff

14. Perception and Reality Perceptions vs. Reality • Misconceptions continued: 4. “You don’t have the right to knock on my door” – Nobody sets foot on property, visual detection only 5. “There’s nothing wrong with wood smoke” – health effects are indisputable, but public awareness is critical to acceptance of no burn

15. PM 2.5 Forecasting Issues • Forecasting PM 2.5 is the same as forecasting ozone – NO • Ozone vs. Particles: • Ozone – gas created through a single reaction of precursors in sunlight • Without a given set of ingredients, high ozone does not occur • PM 2.5 – made up of many different chemical compounds, which can form in different ways • Sunlight-driven chemical reactions • Formed in presence of water (i.e. fog or clouds) • Directly emitted from sources (i.e. fireplaces)

16. PM 2.5 Forecasting Issues • Needed to quickly revamp forecast tools and techniques • Forecast for lower PM 2.5 concentration cutpoints than used in 2006-07 program • Forecast to accommodate 4-level Check Before You Burn program • The smallest No Burn category only encompasses 5 ug/m3 • Stage 1: 35.5 to 40.4 ug/m3

17. Success Story – so far! • Air Alert e-mail notification system added 2,278 Sacramento County subscribers through December • Toll-free daily burn status line 877-NOBURN-5 (877-662-8765) generated almost 21,000 calls in the first month alone • Survey in December showed 64% of respondents recalled seeing or hearing an ad about the Check Before You Burn program telling them to visit a Web site or dial a toll-free number each day

18. Success Story – so far! • 82% of respondents aware that burning wood in residential fireplaces causes pollution (up from 76% in 2006) • 21 visual detections by enforcement staff on the Stage 1 – No Burn days (8) • 120 letters sent out based on citizen complaints (compared to 19 last year without Check Before You Burn)