Wood Smoke and Uutdoor Air Pollution Costs Lives and Money in US Northwest

today..
From Mr. Lalloobhoy Battliwala

link to an article from NPR below, which quotes.. "In Washington, the state Ecology Department estimates that sooty pollution from sources including wood smoke and diesel exhaust contributes to 1,100 deaths and $190 million in health costs annually."

Now, should deaths be considered as savings in health costs?

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December 16, 2011, NPR
Where There's Smoke, There's Sickness: Wood Smoke now a major Northwest air polluter
by Robert McClure,

Wood Smoke now a major Northwest air polluter.

The warning label on the wrapping of neatly split firewood is one we're more accustomed to seeing on cigarettes or heavy-duty chemicals: "known... to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm."

But in fact, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, asthma attacks and premature death – in addition to cancer – all are linked to wood smoke pollution. It's a finding that poses a vexing dilemma for poor and rural communities around the Northwest where wood is a cheap or even free source of heat.

And in Tacoma, where the air is so dirty it violates the Clean Air Act, authorities are gearing up for what promises to be an arduous and expensive campaign over the better part of a decade to clean up wood smoke pollution. It's an effort that already has some residents chafing at government interference, and one that will set the stage for how other Northwest communities are treated when they bump up against tightened federal pollution standards.

In Tacoma and many towns across the Northwest, wood smoke is a prime culprit in driving spikes of sooty, toxic air pollution that leave some residents – particularly asthmatics, kids and the elderly – gasping for breath. It's especially bad during sunny, cold stretches like those we've seen in recent weeks, because atmospheric conditions trap the pollution close to the ground.

Read More on NPR.