FAIRBANKS — An October ballot measure, focused on local government’s role in fighting air pollution, is the third one in as many years on the topic.

But the proposition is easily the most complex of the three and would, among other things, rewrite a ballot measure approved one year ago.

The measure also would tighten home heating regulations and increase fines for those who break the rules.

The target is Fairbanks’ persistent problem with “fine particulate” air pollution, a broad definition of solid particle pollution caused by combustion. Science links the pollution, believed to originate from wood-fed heating systems, to health problems and increased death rates from lung cancer and heart disease.

The question, a public initiative, comes as agencies at the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the state try to implement plans by December 2012.

But some of the measure’s language would apply only in or near the borough’s populated belt, a section stretching across Fairbanks, from North Pole north through Fox and west to part of Ester.

That “nonattaiment area,” as dubbed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency two years ago, includes about 95 percent of the borough’s population. Eielson Air Force Base to the southeast and the Old Nenana Highway to the west are just outside the boundary.

The other half of the proposition’s rules would apply everywhere — across the borough’s 7,361 square miles. Notable among those clauses would be one diluting a year-old initiative, approved by 60 percent of voters last October, that explicitly prohibited borough government from banning or restricting the use of any home heating device. The clause’s replacement would leave room for government to prohibit wood-fed outdoor boilers or coal-fed systems, and to regulate the misuse of a heating system.

Goldstream Valley resident Sylvia Schultz, who sponsored this year’s initiative, said the extra year fits her group’s needs — supporters wanted the community to have time to adapt if voters approve the measure. She said supporters think the proposed changes represent a reasonable middle ground — many in Fairbanks’ want a more robust pollution-prevention regime, but many also want to stick solely to voluntary measures and incentives.

Schultz cited air quality managers’ suggestions that many residents, when contacted about air pollution concerns, respond without facing the threat of a fine.

“They’ve been doing that, and we know it’s helped,” Schultz said Wednesday. She said public officials could still lean heavily on warnings and public education but said her group, Healthy Air Now, thinks the measure is needed because “there are some who are not responsive.”

State law prevents tinkering with voter-approved initiatives for two years. Last year’s Proposition A, which checks local government’s ability to respond to pollution problems, passed in October so part of the “healthy air” measure’s proposed change would only take effect in October 2012.

Rick VanderKolk, an organizer for Proposition A, said he has yet to hear of organized opposition to the new measure. He said its proponents appear to overreach, and to discount the value new pollution control technology such as stovetop catalysts for outdoor boilers.

VanderKolk, also an aide to Rep. Tammie Wilson,

R-North Pole, noted the state has approved a $3 million grant to help Fairbanks cut pollution through its trade-in program. He suggested the community give it a chance before voting to increase regulations.

“The state has done its part. Now it’s time to see what the borough administration will accomplish before winter,” he said by email.

If passed, this October’s Proposition 2 would, for properties inside the nonattainment area, would:

• Ban the use of wood-fed outdoor boilers (“hydronic heaters”), with an exception for models that burn wood pellets;

• Prohibit coal-fed home heating systems altogether, be they outdoor boilers or other models (excluding power plants).

Parts of the measure would apply across the entire borough, inside the pollution-prevention zone and outside. They would:

• Expand the incentives in a trade-in program to apply everywhere. The program offers cash and tax credits to those who trade older, inefficient wood-fed heaters for more efficient, EPA-certified models;

• Prohibit residents with less-efficient heaters from smoking out the neighborhood. The rule, carrying the threat of fines, could be triggered in one of two ways: First, if smoke blocks visibility for more than 15 straight minutes; second, if plumes of smoke from a heater cross property lines and impact neighbors.

Schultz said the first trigger is common — the municipality of Anchorage and the state of Washington are among governments with similar laws. It would kick in if public enforcement officers measured smoke thick enough to reduce visibility by 30 percent over a given

15-minute stretch of time.

The proposition also would boost fines for residents who use a prohibited heater or who install an illegal outdoor boiler.