Some states fight to keep their wood fires burning

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150308/us-wood-stove-rules-fighting-back-1bdadde7d6.html

Mar 8, 11:39 AM (ET)

By DAVID A. LIEB

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Smoke wafting from wood fires has long provided a familiar winter smell in many parts of the country — and, in some cases, a foggy haze that has filled people's lungs with fine particles that can cause coughing and wheezing.

Citing health concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency now is pressing ahead with regulations to significantly limit the pollution from newly manufactured residential wood heaters. But some of the states with the most wood smoke are refusing to go along, claiming that the EPA's new rules could leave low-income residents in the cold.

Missouri and Michigan already have barred their environmental agencies from enforcing the EPA standards. Similar measures recently passed Virginia's legislature and are pending in at least three other states, even though residents in some places say the rules don't do enough to clear the air.

It's been a harsh winter for many people, particularly those in regions repeatedly battered by snow. And the EPA's new rules are stoking fears that some residents won't be able to afford new stoves when their older models give out.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In this March 8, 2014 file photo, a wood stove heats a home in Freeport, Maine. Statistics compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency show that the heavily forested states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are among the top five in the country for the per capita emission of pollutants from wood stoves used to heat homes.Nationally, the EPA is pressing ahead with regulations to significantly limit the pollution from newly manufactured residential wood heaters. But some states with the most wood smoke are refusing to go along. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. So tie it to subsidy programs.

Set the standards, but do something like the 'cash for clunkers' deal, wherein if you trade in an older, more polluting model for a newer, approved model, you get a discount. Make it sliding scale, so that low income folks get the biggest discounts.

I like the smell of wood smoke outside, but with a housemate with breathing issues, we can't use one inside, sadly.

[jwirr]

2. I have seen Weatherization provide new energy efficient furnaces for home and this should be one

of the approved furnaces.

I can see where wood smoke could add to the problem of smog and fire safety in cities but I cannot imagine how a rural home could bother anyone else.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. I lived in a small town at 10,000 feet

the town in the late 80s required all wood stoves and fire places to have catalytic converters because of the cold inversion would smother the town in smoke in the winter......... it worked.