Restaurant Owners FURIOUS As Radical New York City Cracks Down On Coal Ovens At Pizzerias To Fight Climate Change

Rather than attempting to deal with its record-high immigrant and homeless issues, New York City has made the bold move to begin restricting pizzerias from using coal-and-wood-fired ovens unless they wish to fork over a notable amount of money to accommodate the city’s need to be ‘green.’

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection drafted up the new rules in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions by up to 75 percent, according to the New York Post. The new measure would specifically target these ovens that were installed before May 2016, forcing owners to install an air filter system that can cost upwards of $20,000. 

“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,” Ted Timbers, spokesperson for the department, said on Sunday. “This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.”

Stores will be responsible for hiring an engineer or architect that will properly assess the reality of installing a filtration divide to achieve emissions reduction. If a restaurant cannot properly install filtration to reduce emissions by 75 percent, it must at least identify a system that can reduce filtration by 25 percent or explain why no population controller can be installed.

Pizzerias will also be able to apply for a variance or waiver but must prove that they are facing hardship in doing so. 

The regulation is only expected to affect around 100 pizza joints in New York City, making the rule seem even more frivolous. Residents and owners are not too happy with the move by the city with many pointing out the hypocrisy between the elite and lower class. 

“I’m all for responsible environmental practice but tell Al Gore to take one less private jet or something. Give me a break!” said Saavi Sharma, a New York City resident who brought her family from India to try their first slice at Grimaldi’s, an iconic Big Apple wood-fired pizza joint. “I’ve been bragging about this pizza to my family for like five years. Don’t mess with this!”

Restaurant owners are easily the most miffed about the rule, noting the large cost and the changes that the air filtration will bring to the iconic New York pizza slice taste. 

“This is an unfunded mandate and it’s going to cost us a fortune not to mention ruining the taste of the pizza, totally destroying the product,” said an anonymous restaurant owner. “If you f—k around with the temperature in the oven you change the taste. That pipe, that chimney, it’s that size to create the perfect updraft, keeps the temp perfect, it’s an art as much as a science. You take away the char, the thing that makes the pizza taste great, you kill it.”

“And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?!” the unnamed pizzeria owner added. 

The move has no interest in actually addressing any of the climate issues that the left pushes and instead punishes small business owners. The emissions that are produced by these coal-and-wood-fired ovens are so miniscule when compared to those produced by mega-corporations, it’s completely nonsensical to make such a move. 

The left is perfectly happy to inconvenience everyone else in their quest to appease their moral callings even if it’s simply a farce that they’re chasing. Real climate activists would not even look at small businesses but instead turn their heads to global businesses that emit millions of times the carbon dioxide that these little pizzerias do.