This ordinance shall be known as the Smoke and
Air-Pollution Ordinance.
The following words, when used in this ordinance,
shall have the following meanings:
DUST and/or FLY ASH
Gas-borne and air-borne particles as described and/or defined
in § 117-4B of this ordinance.
FUEL
Combustible materials, solid, liquid, or gaseous, used primarily
either to kindle or sustain fire or produce heat, including refuse
to be consumed in refuse-burning equipment.
FUEL-BURNING EQUIPMENT
Any furnace, incinerator, refuse-burning equipment, boiler,
apparatus, device, mechanism, stack and structure used in the process
of burning fuel or combustible material except a railroad locomotive
or VEHICLE as herein defined.
FUMES
Fumes, gases, noxious or obnoxious acids or vapors which
are of such character and volume as to be detrimental to health and
property.
OPEN FIRE
Any fire wherein the products of combustion are emitted into
the open air and are not directed thereto through a stack or chimney.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, association, syndicate, company,
firm, trust, corporation, government corporation, department, bureau,
agency or any other entity recognized by law as the subject of rights
and duties.
RINGELMANN SMOKE CHART
The Ringelmann Chart, with instructions for use, as published
by the United States Bureau of Mines, 1945.
SMOKE
Means all gaseous products of combustion, together with carbon,
soot, fly ash and all other particulate solids in combustion gases.
DENSE SMOKE
Smoke of a density equal to or in excess of No. 3 of the
RINGELMANN SMOKE CHART.
SOOT
Agglomerated particles consisting essentially of carbonaceous
material.
STACK and CHIMNEY
Flue, conduit or opening arranged for emitting gases into
the open air, and including an open fire, structure or opening of
any kind whatsoever capable of emitting smoke.
COMBUSTION ENGINEER
A person qualified by education and or experience in combustion
engineering and who, through his vocation, has kept abreast of its
changing practices.
VEHICLE
A mechanism, other that a steam locomotive, either self-propelled
or propelled by other means such as a roller, derrick, crane, trencher,
portable hoisting engine, steamboat, tug or other apparatus which
is not ordinarily permanently installed in one location but is used
at various places over a wide area.
CITY
Means the City of North Tonawanda, Niagara County, New York.
No new fuel- or refuse-burning plant, equipment
or device shall be installed, erected or used, nor shall any existing
fuel- or refuse-burning plant, equipment or device be altered, added
to or used, nor shall any stack or furnace connected with such plant,
equipment or device be installed, erected, altered, added to or used
within the city until plans and specifications of the same shall have
been filed in the office of the Smoke Inspector and approved, and
a permit shall have been issued for such installation, erection, reconstruction
or addition; provided, however, that such plans and specifications
for heating plants only in residences of less than five dwelling units
or flats need not to be so filed unless demanded by the Smoke Inspector.
The plans and specifications so filed shall show:
A. The type of installations.
B. The nature and extent of the work to be performed.
C. The extent of the space to be heated.
D. The kind of fuel or refuse to be used and the rate
of burning, including all provisions made for securing complete combustion
of the fuel or refuse and the manner in which it is to be burned,
for the purpose of preventing and eliminating dense smoke or other
air-pollution.
E. The location and dimensions of the premises, room,
basement or other portion of the building in which such plant, equipment
or device now is or may be located; also, the doors, windows, air
shafts, fans and other means of ventilation in such premises, room,
basement or other portion of such building to be sufficient to prevent
the temperature therein from rising to a point higher than 120°
F., and sufficient also to provide that the atmosphere of any such
room, basement or other portion of the building may be changed at
least every 10 minutes.
F. The locations and dimensions of all stacks used in
connection with or as a part of said fuel- or refuse-burning plant.
G. The Smoke Inspector may require such additional data
as he may deem necessary for the purpose of issuing a permit.
H. No plans and specifications shall be approved nor
shall a permit be issued for the installation, construction, erection
or alteration of or addition to such fuel- or refuse-burning plant,
equipment or device unless adequate and approved provisions are shown
thereon for securing reasonably complete combustion of the fuel or
refuse to be used, for the purpose of preventing dense smoke or other
air-pollution.
I. After a permit has been issued, no fuel- or refuse-burning
plant, equipment or device shall be operated or used with a type of
fuel materially different from that specified, nor in a manner different
from the plans and specifications and the terms and conditions relating
to the operation and use.
J. Nothing in this section contained shall be construed
so as to prohibit the making of repairs to any stack, fuel- or refuse-burning
equipment or device.
The Building Commissioner shall not issue a permit for the erection, construction, reconstruction or alteration of any building or structure which includes or requires a stack connected with a fuel- or refuse-burning plant, equipment or device unless a permit has been issued as provided in §
79-5 hereof. It shall be the duty of the Smoke Inspector, after such permit has been issued, to inspect the premises wherein said fuel-or refuseburning plant, equipment or device is to be located to see that the execution of the work so authorized by said permit shall be done in conformity with the approved plans and specifications and the existing standards, rules and regulations applicable thereto.
It shall be unlawful for any person to use any
new or reconstructed fuel- or refuse-burning plant, equipment or device
until he shall have first procured a certificate of operation. No
original certificate of operation shall be issued for such plant,
equipment or device unless such plant, equipment or device is so constructed
that it can consistently be managed to do the work required with the
type of fuel and equipment to be used without emitting from the stack
dense smoke, dust, soot, cinders, fly ash, noxious or obnoxious acids,
fumes or gases.
Upon due application and upon furnishing proof
that plans and specifications have been or are being prepared for
the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any premises or
fuel- or refuse-burning plant, equipment or device to prevent or eliminate
air-pollution or the emission of dense smoke, and that the necessary
steps have been taken to provide for compliance with the provisions
of this chapter, but that the proper equipment or device cannot be
obtained immediately, a certificate of extension may be granted for
a period of not more than six months, and such period may be extended
further not more than three months at any one time. All extensions
of time shall be reported to the Common Council.
The issuance and delivery of a permit for the
construction, reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any fuel-
or refuse-burning plant, equipment or device or any stack connected
thereto, or the issuance and delivery of an original or an annual
certificate of operation shall not be a bar to prosecution because
of a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter.
Fuel-burning equipment or devices installed
to heat buildings used exclusively for private residences containing
less than five dwelling units or flats shall be equipped with efficient
smoke-eliminating apparatus, unless such equipment or device is fueled
with anthracite coal, coke, oil, gas or other smokeless fuel.
All boilers used in connection with steam shovels
or used for stationary work shall, when operated, use only smokeless
type (bituminous) or anthracite coal, coke, oil, gas or other smokeless
fuel.
The owner or operator of every fuel- or refuse-burning
plant, equipment or device, excepting those in which the only fuel
is gas or oil and excepting those in buildings used exclusively for
private residences containing less than five dwelling units or flats,
shall provide means whereby the fireman may be enabled to know, without
leaving the boiler or furnace room, whether or not prohibited smoke
is issuing from the stack. Such means of observation shall be one
of the following:
A. A window or other opening through which an unobstructed
view of the top of the stack may be had from the boiler or furnace
room.
B. A mirror, so placed as to reflect the top of the stack,
visible from the boiler or furnace room.
C. A smoke indicator installed so as to accurately indicate
type, volume and character of smoke being discharged.
The Smoke Inspector and/or his assistants shall
be permitted to enter any premises within the city and inspect said
premises and the fuel- or refuse-burning plant, equipment or device
therein at all reasonable hours for the purpose of administering and
enforcing the provisions of this chapter. No person shall in any manner
hinder, obstruct, delay, resist, prevent or interfere with the agents
or employees of the city while administering or enforcing the provisions
of this chapter nor refuse them entrance to premises for that purpose.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of
this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances
shall for any reason be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction
to be unconstitutional or invalid, said judgment shall not affect,
impair or invalidate the remainder of this chapter and the application
of such provision to any other person or circumstances, but shall
be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or
part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment
shall have been rendered and to the person or circumstance involved.
It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent of the Common Council
that this ordinance would have been adopted had such invalid provision
not been included.
This ordinance shall become effective 10 days after the publishing and posting thereof as provided by
law.