Post by Jay HoneckWhy is barbeque lighter fluid banned in many jurisdictions?
You're kidding, right?
Partially.
As California has tightened up its air pollution regulations for
automobiles, it is approaching the point where cars are no longer the
major source of air pollution in the Los Angeles area. Other types of
pollution are starting to come into the crosshairs of the pollution
control districts, including such things as barbeque lighter fluid,
paint thinners, dry cleaning fluids, contact cement, and exhaust
emissions from small engines used for lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and
weed eaters.
Of particular concern are what they call Volatile Organic Compounds
(VOC) They estimate that something like 400 tons of VOCs are released
into the air in the San Francisco Bay area each day, down from 600 tons
15 years ago. (Compare that to the amount of fuel in a fuel dump)
As such, there have been a number of proposals to ban things that
contain such chemicals outright. In fact, commercial production of
chemicals like carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethane, and certain types
of Freon have ceased by international agreement.
Pressure on the manufacturers has been used instead, so oil-based paints
no longer use much xylene or toluene, water-based paints like latex are
being pushed more and more, contact cement no longer uses methyl ethyl
ketones, ink-jet cartridges use thinners derived from soy, and so on. It
extends to barbeque ligher fluids as well. The lighter fluid you get
today is not what you got 15 years ago. Most people haven't noticed the
difference, but teh fluid no longer contains the traditional chemicals
like naptha. Instead, low VOC solvents are used.
Getting back to fuel dumping. As the quantities of VOCs from other
sources drop to lower levels over time, don't be surprised to see the
air pollution regulators focus in on such things as fuel dumping. It
will become more and more of an issue if it grows in proportion to other
types of VOC emissions.