More than 100 pizza restaurants could close out within New York City due to the new green law of the government requiring restaurants that make use of wood-fired and coal-fired stoves to reduce carbon emissions by 75 percent.
Ted Timbers, spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection The department’s spokesman Ted Timbers, who approved the new rules in June of the previous year.
“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality,” Timbers announced in a statement in the year 2000. “This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.”
As pizzerias prepare to prepare for the new law that will start in April 27th, many owners of businesses have told Fox News they will have to close their doors for good.
“This regulation will go a long way to put an end to charming wood-fired pizza restaurants in New York City,” Brooklyn pizzeria owner Paul Giannone said. “A sad day in my opinion.”
“I think putting this regulation in place for everyone, regardless if it’s having an impact on neighbors or not, is overkill,” Giannone said.
One Jewish bakery needed to pay more than $600,000 for an air purification system and John’s bakery on Bleecker Street spent more than $100,000 on a smoke-reduction system.
“We were told that we could not choose. We are not able to survive with our kitchen,” the manager Joey Schirripa said to in the New York Post. “We know the direction that the city is heading in. We are trying to be eco sustainable.”
In The New York Post, the new regulations will likely force pizzerias operating before 2016 ovens to shell out up to $20,000 for air filters, which will also include ongoing maintenance expenses:
According to the law the restaurants that have wood- and coal-fired ovens are required to employ the services of an architect or engineer to determine the possibility of implementing emission controls that will result in an increase of 75% in particulate emission.
If this report concludes the reduction by 75% or more is not able to achieve, or no emission control could be installed, it must be able to identify any emission controls which could result in a decrease of minimum 25% or an explanation of why there are the emission controls cannot be installed.
Famous pizzerias equipped with wood or coal ovens that are considered to be subject to the rule are Lombardo’s located in Little Italy, Arturo’s in Soho and John’s on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Paul Giannoni, owner of Paulie Gee’s, has told in the Washington Post about how the filtering system could be an “big expense” and a “huge hassle” with few advantages.
The city’s regulations also say that if a business is unable to attain the 75 percent threshold it must submit an assessment to determine if they can reduce emissions by 25 percent.