June 17
Creep, creep, creep.
Here they come again — the government.
Specifically, this time, it’s the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District circling restaurant charbroilers.
On Thursday, the board will consider amending an existing rule to bring more restaurants into its regulatory fold.
Right now, the rule affects only restaurants using “chain-driven” charbroilers, which, essentially, move meat through a tunnel of flame and are used by larger fast-food joints.
The amendment being looked at would include “under-fire” charbroilers.
These are used by smaller restaurants and, according to the San Joaquin air district staff report, make up 72 percent of all commercial cooking emissions in the district.
Wow, that must be a really big problem.
Hard to say, actually. Staff doesn’t know how many restaurants are cooking this way and so has no way to form a baseline emission inventory.
Well, these charbroil emissions must be some toxic stuff then, right?
Nah, not really. At least not as far as the district knows as there’s never been any toxic studies done on this type of exhaust.
But the emissions do contain particulate matter, tiny bits of dust and soot, and as that’s the current boogey man being chased to heck and gone by federal and state agencies, by all means, get out the regulatory noose and find a tree, boys!
Here’s my oft-repeated rap on particulate matter: some studies have shown particulate matter, specifically PM 2.5, is associated with premature deaths. The authors of those studies, however, have never allowed their data to be independently examined and their results have never been replicated.
Other studies have found little to no relationship between premature death and exposure to PM 2.5, particularly here in California.
To me, the scientific jury is out on the deadly effects of PM 2.5.
Even if you believe PM 2.5 is knocking us all off in droves, however, this pending charbroiler rule is ludicrous and being pushed with unnecessary haste.
At this point, it would only affect restaurants that cook 800 pounds of meat a week or more. That’s a lot of meat. So, the truly small guys are exempt, as long as they register their charbroilers and keep extensive records to prove they’re under the limit.
Believe me, though, it’s only a matter of time before that limit drops to 600 pounds, then 400 and so on. (Deep fryers, beware, you could be next!) And anyone building a new restaurant with a charbroiler, regardless of how much meat you’re planning to cook, will be under the new rule.
In doing its reports, the district estimated it could cost between $30,000 and $100,000 for under-fire charbroil operations to retrofit using any number of devices from filters to scrubbers to more sophisticated systems. Over time, the district concluded, that would work out to just a few thousand dollars a year.
Wrong, Skip Slayton, owner of Jake’s Tex Mex told me.
First of all, he said the lowest cost option recommended by the district, a HEPA filter that clears out anything down to six microns, can’t be used without a front-end system to extract grease otherwise it’d be plugged up and useless within a day.
Any one of the systems would require customization, which adds to the cost, upkeep and cleaning, another cost, repairs, more costs, and potential upgrades, cha ching, cha ching.
Perhaps most importantly, no one knows what the standard is they’re supposed to be shooting for, Slayton said. As in, how much PM 2.5 comes out of your chimney now and how much should come out after you retrofit?
“The district says it has a test, but nothing’s concrete as to what it is or how it’s applied,” he said. “They don’t have it down anywhere about how you pass or fail.”
Yup, that’s regulation California style, all right.
The district’s report says the rule amendment will remove between .26 and 2.6 tons of particulate matter per day from the air once all affected restaurants come into compliance by the 2014 deadline.
Doesn’t sound like a lot to me, especially when you consider the upheaval it will cause small businesses.
It also seems like another rush to regulation when the marketplace is already headed toward lower emissions on its own. The one good thing about Slayton’s involvement so far, he said, is he’s discovered a lot of really interesting hood/emissions/grease systems being made that weren’t even discussed by the air board.
“I don’t disagree with the need for clean air,” he said. “I just want more empirical studies so we can make intelligent choices.”
That’s crazy talk.
ATTENDING THE MEETING
Thursday, 9 a.m.
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board meeting in Fresno will be broadcast live over the Internet and interested persons can participate by showing up in person at the Bakersfield office, 34946 Flyover Court, Bakersfield, CA 93308.
Full agendas can be downloaded at www.valleyair.org.
You can call the local office at (661) 392-5500.
Directions:
Heading north on CA-99 N:
Take exit 30 for State Highway 65 (Porterville Highway).
Merge onto State Highway 65 (Porterville Highway).
Turn left at Imperial.
Turn left at Flightpath.
Turn left at Flyover Court. Building will be on the left.
Heading south on CA-99 N:
Take exit 31 for 7th Standard Road/Merle Haggard Drive.
Turn left over Freeway 99.
Turn left at State Highway 65 (Porterville Highway).
Turn left at Imperial.
Turn left at Flightpath.
Turn left at Flyover Court. Building will be on the left.
