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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (844576)

3/24/2015 9:49:37 AM

From: Brumar89

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New EPA rules enlist wood heating police

I don't want you thrown in jail, Rat, even if you do heat your shack with old growth redwood.

by Chris Wessel / Editor, Jonesboro Sun Associated Press
10:15 AM, Monday, March 23 2015

Have you checked the emissions on your wood stove or fireplace lately? Well, you’re likely in violation of new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.

But that doesn’t mean the EPA’s wood stove police will come knocking at your door any time soon.

Instead, the EPA is going after wood heater manufacturers, with the goal of reducing fine particle emissions by nearly 70 percent in the next five years.

Citing health concerns, the EPA is pressing ahead with the regulations, according to The Associated Press.

However, some states with the most wood smoke are refusing to go along.

“If the EPA wants to come in here and enforce it, come on in. (But) I’m not going to help them,” said Michigan state Sen. Tom Casperson, whose law barring state enforcement of the EPA regulations takes effect March 31.

The EPA may do just that.

However, if your wood stove currently doesn’t meet standards, there’s no need to worry. The EPA won’t be coming to haul it away. The agency wants to make sure the next time you have to buy one, it meets the new standards.

And therein lies the controversy.

New wood stoves, fireplace inserts and wood-fired furnaces and outdoor boilers will cost much more in order to meet the new EPA standards.That, say many state officials and manufacturers, could leave low-income residents out in the cold as well as shut down smaller manufacturers.

According to The AP, about 10 percent of U.S. households burn wood, and the number relying on it as their primary heating source rose by nearly a third from 2005 to 2012, the latest year federal figures were available.

There are two likely reasons for the rise in wood burning: lower cost and inaccessibility of other heating sources.

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.

“People have been burning wood since the beginning of recorded time,” Phillip Todd, 59, who uses a wood-fired furnace to heat his home in Holts Summit, Mo., told The AP. “They’re trying to regulate it out of existence, I believe, and they really have no concern about the economic consequences or the hardship it’s going to cause.”

Although minuscule compared to the emission reductions the EPA is placing on coal-burning electric power plants, the new wood heating regulations the EPA plans to enforce makes it perfectly clear that the Obama administration is going after anyone who adds to the nation’s carbon footprint — even the little smokestacks.

Not only will electricity become more expensive, but burning wood will, too.

It’s just more federal government overreach, and it’s ridiculous.

Read more: The Courier - Your Messenger for the River Valley - New EPA rules enlist wood heating police

http://www.couriernews.com/view/full_story/26535333/article-New-EPA-rules-enlist-wood-heating-police