New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesman Ted Timbers says, “All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air.” But don’t we also deserve delicious coal and wood-fired pizza? The Department of Environmental Protection doesn’t think so.
Timbers describes the DEP’s proposal to cut carbon emissions by 75 percent as a “common-sense rule.” The rule mandates pizzerias must hire an engineer to assess whether an emissions-control device can be installed. In anticipation of the proposal’s approval, some pizzeria owners have already purchased air-filtration machines for $20,000. I guess common-sense doesn’t mean affordable; the DiGiorno lobby is more powerful than anybody imagined.
If the investigation concludes an air scrubber cannot be installed, the pizzeria must determine how it can reduce emissions by 25 percent or apply for a waiver if such an emissions reduction poses undue hardship. Easy as pie! I’m sure such an investigation is in no way cost-prohibitive for an industry with notoriously high turnover and razor- thin profit margins . . .
As a proud Brooklynite who lives near the famous Grimaldi’s and Juliana’s coal-fired pizza joints, I cringe to think about how the costly carbon-sequestration systems will inflate the prices of the already expensive pies.
Perhaps the wealthy tourists who flock to these pizzerias won’t notice, but working-class New Yorkers and students certainly will.