NYC Coming for Pizza: Coal, Wood Oven Pizzerias Must Slice Carbon Emissions by 75%

Pizza restaurants in New York City using coal- or wood-fired ovens must reduce their emissions by 75 percent, according to new guidelines drafted by the city’s environmental protection agency.

“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, spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, said in a Sunday statement shared with the New York Post.

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

Pizzeria owners, under the new rules, could be forced to purchase expensive emission-control devices for ovens that were installed before May 2016, the Post reported.

The rule specifically requires pizza joints using coal- and wood-burning ovens to hire an engineer or architect to assess the feasibility of installing emission control devices that could lower emissions by 75 percent in the restaurant, the report said.

If the expert assessment determines that a 75 percent emission reduction would be impossible in a particular restaurant, its owners would be required to find ways they could slash emissions by a minimum of 25 percent.

Should that be impossible, they must explain why, the Post reported. The rules allow for hardship waivers, according to the outlet.

“Oh yeah, it’s a big expense!” Paul Giannone, owner of Paulie Gee’s in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, told the Post, referring to the $20,000 air-filtration system he had installed in his restaurant in anticipation of the new rules.