San Diego Fireworks require Enivonmental Assessment Study

[marplots]

Wiki has a pretty good section on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks#Pollution

That said, there are some excellent shells that don't use anything more than charcoal, a nitrate oxidizer and black powder for a burst charge.

 

[leftysergeant]

Because we've been doing it for hundreds of years without any noticeable effect on the environment?

Got proof?

 

[JeanFromBNA]

Do you have proof that it does harm to the environment?

I'll admit that I don't know, because I'm not out in San Diego. But I know that a temporary impact like a July 4th Fireworks show is unlikely to have any lasting impact. As I said previously, if this occurred regularly every day, week, or even every month, I could understand requiring further study, but every now and then (I'm presuming that there may be another show or two during the year)?

I agree with you that trash in the water, especially in the ocean, is a genuine concern and should be addressed by some kind of in-kind mitigation/clean up.

Again, my company does this kind of work, but not in CA. An Environmental Assessment Study that encompasses marine life, terrestrial concerns, and birds both land and sea oriented would be a substantial undertaking - hundreds of hours of work and hundreds of pages of documentation. I was interested to learn about Sea World's situation, and wonder how that factored into both parties' decision to move forward with this suit. But Sea World has fireworks on a much more regular basis than the City of San Diego.

 

[Bjorn]

Well, this is the closest I could find for not causing harm - "proof" or not.​

"We've monitored a number of metals and elements and constituents to see if there [were] any elevations in the bay," he said. "It was shown that there was no negative impact on the quality of the bay as a result of our fireworks."

The "San Diego Coastkeepers" seemed to be happy with that,​

Edited to add that yes, this is Sea World, and if their regular fireworks didn't show any negative impact on the bay I don't think a 4th of July celebration would have it.​

 

[marplots]

Well, this is the closest I could find for not causing harm - "proof" or not.​

The "San Diego Coastkeepers" seemed to be happy with that,​

Edited to add that yes, this is Sea World, and if their regular fireworks didn't show any negative impact on the bay I don't think a 4th of July celebration would have it.​

Bjorn, however, the bay is a three dimensional (four if you count inflow and outflow) diluting factor here. The wiki link I posted mentions other studies that found longer lasting effects either in fixed bodies of water or land. Perhaps it matters where the refuse falls.

As far as displays go, it is always better to have a government sponsor to get past regulations that would otherwise apply to private parties. But even without an environmental study, the cost of liability bonding represents a cost to the operator -- and that might be the response when environmental impact is a concern. Pay for a bond and suffer a lawsuit later when perchlorate shows up in the drinking water.

I've seen this at a private shoot where a neighbor collected because, "the noise was upsetting my horses" and the insurance company rolled over, paid, and then refused to insure any more events. We lost the site for that reason.

So I was thinking that actual damage, environmental or otherwise, isn't as important as perceived damage and liability concerns.

Worry is sometimes enough. Although hobby pyrotechnics is still legal, lots of us dropped out after 911 and increased scrutiny from the BATF on chemical purchases, storage and "manufacturing" of explosive devices. The worry was enough to kill the activity, at least for me.

 

[WildCat]

I've seen this at a private shoot where a neighbor collected because, "the noise was upsetting my horses" and the insurance company rolled over, paid, and then refused to insure any more events..

Wait, an insurance company paid a horse owner for "upsetting" his horses?

 

[marplots]

Wait, an insurance company paid a horse owner for "upsetting" his horses?

I wasn't involved directly, so it's all hearsay from the club officers. The claim sounded to me like, off their feed, unable to sleep right, jittery, blah, blah...

In short, I don't know what specific damages were claimed, just that they were noise-based. I also don't know the amount. This was a decade ago with Heartland Pyrotechnics.

To be honest, that shoot did have some excellent salutes and guys who felt they hadn't done a good job unless their "baby" set off car alarms in the parking lot.

Good times.