Declaration of IndependencePrudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
What the above phrase is saying is that more often than not, the individual man is willing to be trampled by government before he ever thinks of rebelling. Now Rebellion can take a lot of different forms, it doesn't always have to be in the form of open arms (combat). Sometimes it comes in selecting someone to openly confront those in our government and try to wrest the power to make inane regulations from those who believe they know better than us what is good for us.
Here is a prime example of "wise men" far, far away trying to dictate how we should behave and what is "good" for us, with little or no knowledge of the true situation. Even with all it's riches, Alaska is not a wealthy state. Of course it may be me, but it seems to me the less monetary wealth you have, the more our governments feel like they can tell you what to do. I have never been financially rich, but I have often felt that I have riches beyond what a lot of the Forbes 500 have. However, I have run afoul of certain government agencies which think I should be living my life a certain way or doing certain things. But this is not about me. This is about those intrepid individualists who call our 49th state home.
The problem appears to be with wood burning stoves and the extreme cold temperatures in Fairbanks in winter. Natural Gas is unavailable and heating oil is too expensive for some, so for those of lessor means, the use of wood burning stoves is the only practical source of heat in the winter. This can create a problem. If the temperature drops below -29° C, the smoke from the fire falls back to the ground and accumulates in low lying pockets. This falling of the smoke is called inversion and is the culprit behind the problems facing Fairbanks and North Pole, Alaska. It leads to a high particulate reading for the air during cold spells, but only in certain low lying areas.
Read more:
New York Times article
A more conservative viewpoint