Though I understand the intentions outlined by the fireworks ban advisory vote, I would question the climate change, trash-generation, and overall impact of the biannual usage of fireworks on the Long Beach Peninsula relative to more subtle, year-round activities.

What subtle event has an impact on the beach? Driving. I have never walked on the ocean side of the peninsula and not seen at least a handful of vehicles parked or driving up and down the beach, often well over the unenforceable 25 MPH speed limit. It isn’t uncommon to see them in the dunes as well. Aside from the immediate danger presented to pedestrians, these vehicles disturb, compact and pollute the very same sand in which we find razor clams, great flocks of migratory birds, and from which we build sand castles. They bring invasive species from all over the state straight into an uncontrolled, sensitive environment.

Despite these facts, fireworks are the factor blamed in well-being considerations as if they were a continuous issue when it comes to county action on the peninsula. The reason is simple: Their impact is conspicuous, and that of vehicular use is not.

When compared to inland Southwest Washington, the Long Beach Peninsula is fortunate to enjoy lower average temperatures, fewer dense forests, and a population responsible enough to clean up afterwards. In enacting a local ban on the sale and usage of fireworks here, fireworks usage would likely just shift inland, resulting in worse effects on Southwest Washington as a whole via increased wildfires in drier, densely vegetated regions covering most of this side of the Cascades. In effect, the one day of pollution created locally becomes a month of smoky skies for everyone.

Maybe more effort should be applied to stopping other activities with long-term negative impacts on the Long Beach peninsula while studying the less obvious impacts a fireworks ban here might have on Southwest Washington as a whole.

PERRIN ZAHN

Toutle