Environment

State asks Fairbanks-area residents to refrain from burning

FAIRBANKS -- People living in a section of the Fairbanks North Star Borough are being asked to refrain from open burning until April 1.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports new state rules beginning Saturday involve open burning and smokestack emissions. Open burning is prohibited until March 31.

Borough residents in a 200-square-mile area also are asked to monitor their smokestacks and heed air-quality announcements by the borough or state.

During air-quality advisories, residents are asked to make sure the smoke emitting from chimneys does not have more than 50 percent opacity -- the level of light blocked by a plume of smoke.

The new state rules aim to decrease air pollution in Fairbanks and North Pole. Those rules are separate from other pollution measures the borough Assembly is considering.

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