New York’s green maniacs have come for a Gotham treasure: pizza.
The city Department of Environmental Protection has drafted insane new rules that could force pizza joints using wood- and coal-fired ovens — the only way to really cook a pie — to slash emissions by up to 75%.
Hitting the target would require installation of a pricey filtration system on older ovens, slamming mostly older, classic spots like Lombardi’s in Little Italy and Brooklyn-based icon Grimaldi’s.
If a shop can’t afford a filter setup, or the oven/kitchen layout doesn’t allow for installing one, the owners would apparently have to throw themselves on the mercy of the DEP.
Worse still, some say the filtration systems will alter the taste of the pizza by messing with the temperature and atmospheric conditions inside the oven.
As one outraged customer told The Post: “I’m all for responsible environmental practice, but tell Al Gore to take one less private jet or something.”
Elon Musk echoed the idea on Twitter: “This is utter bs. It won’t make a difference to climate change.”
That’s exactly right. Any green gains from this policy will be minuscule, while the potential damage to New York’s food culture and overall fabric of life could be incalculable.
Even more laughably, the DEP is arguing for the rule on public health grounds.
Ha! New York’s now rushing headlong into a congestion-pricing scheme that’s likely to worsen pollution, especially in the Bronx, as well as stalling traffic in neighborhoods that already suffer from bad air quality.
Heck, the city’s also setting up free drug accessory/Narcan vending machines to enable addicts.
Public health is quite literally the last thing on our regulatory overlords’ minds.
Look, we get that Green New Dealers hate the finer things in life: gas stoves, steak and air conditioners that actually, you know, cool down your house.
So it’s no shock they’d come for pizza eventually. (Bagels are surely next.)
But this is one issue where New Yorkers left, right and center, of every age, race, creed and gender, should rise as one and shout Va al diavolo.