Toss Your Boss
Grace lines up with the guns
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ASHBURTON
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Wednesday, Aug 27, 2014
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Old burner? You will be caught BY SUE NEWMAN
SUE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Ashburton homeowners are being caught for using outdated logburners during ongoing thermal imaging stings by Environment Canterbury. And that puts all property owners on notice that they will be detected if they continue to use logburners installed more than 15 years ago, said senior strategy advisor Nadine Dommisse. Environment Canterbury (ECan) inspectors have been travelling Ashburton streets, checking chimneys with thermal imaging equipment to detect houses where old logburners are still in use, she said. “This will be ongoing, probably until mid-way through September and we’ll be making checks during spring and summer, but this will shift to daytime visits.” Owners of those properties received a letter asking them to contact ECan within five days to discuss their options. Most people were pretty positive about the need to make a change, she said. “Fundamentally this is about improving air quality to improve community health,
but it’s a process of community change and this takes time.” It was important anyone receiving a letter contacted ECan within five days, Ms Dommisse said. “If they get in touch then we can talk and agree on a process. The key is that we know people are doing something.” Comparing home heating data from the 2006 Census and last year’s Census, it indicated there was a very clear move away from woodburning fires as the most common heating source in homes, she said. In June ECan held a public meeting in Ashburton to discuss the review of the district’s air plan. Submissions were called and a summary of these will be released next month. Hearings are likely to be held early next year, followed by the release of the district’s revised air plan. Ashburton’s high pollution nights (exceeding 50mcg of particulate per cubic metre of air) had been on a downward trend, but had spiked to nine this year. The requirements are for Ashburton to have no more than three high pollution nights a year by 2016 and no more than one by 2020.
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Ready, set ... A team of pint-sized Ashburton fundraisers is ready to walk and run 5km for charity – a very big effort for such little legs.
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