New Push for a Leaf Burning Ban

As the South Bend Tribune reports, some residents of St. Joseph County are pushing for a ban on leaf burning in residential areas outside of city limits.  Excerpt:

Leaf burning has always been permitted in the county. About seven years ago, however, the County Council stopped appropriating money for leaf pick-up. As a result, Dunham says, what was once a minor nuisance is now a real bother — not to mention a public health hazard.

...

“I understand the need to clear fields by burning, that’s part of food production, that makes sense,” he says. “What doesn’t make sense is burning leaves in residential, suburban neighborhoods.” To that end, he has [proposed] amend[ing] the county burn ordinance to ban the practice within a certain distance of other properties...

...

That may be, council member Dan Herbster, R-District F, says, but “my impression is that most of the people in my district just don’t want unnecessary regulations. ... One of the reasons people choose to live in the county [as opposed to the city] is because they don’t want to deal with a lot of regulations.”

Alan Engel wrote the following Voice of the People article for the South Bend Tribune:

Residents of St. Joseph County who care about the health and well-being of the community should support and thank South Bend resident Doug Dunham (Tribune, Dec. 18) for asking the County Council to pass a ban leaf burning ban.

As a physician, I know that leaf burning is hazardous to our health. Leaf burning creates smog-like particulate matter that can and often does instigate or exacerbate asthma attacks in children or worsening COPD in the elderly. Ask any emergency room doctor in St. Joe County to verify this assertion -- leaf burning is unhealthy. Leaf burning also produces cancer causing compounds and is a fire hazard.

County Council member Dan Herbster calls a leaf burning ban "unnecessary regulation." If Herbster had asthma or COPD, the leaf burning ban would no longer be "unnecessary."

Let's do the right thing and do what is best for the health and well-being for everyone in the county. We must find a better way to dispose of leaves without causing health concerns for our most fragile citizens (the young and elderly) in an environmentally friendly way without significantly burdening individual taxpayers.

Local physicians George Horvath, Howard Engle, Scott Eshowsky, Michelle Migliore, Shaya Mokfi, Ismail Al-Ani, Walter Filipek, Gary Fromm, Richard Seall, George Friend, James Kelly, Matt Koscielski and Dave Taber, join me in making this plea.

I don't think Dr. Engel quite quoted me correctly.  What I was trying to tell the Tribune was that I thought many of my constituents would see this leaf burning ban as "unecessary regulation."  I try to keep an open mind about issues like this, and I'm more than happy to hear from constituents about it either way.  If folks can demonstrate that this is a serious enough health issue and that numerous county residents support it, I'm willing to consider it.  However, I do feel that the burden of proof should be on people proposing a new regulation that could inconvenience many county residents.