EPA’s Proposed Wood Stove / Wood Heater Regulations: Frequently Asked Questions

Summary

On January 3, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released proposed emission standards for new residential wood heaters, the most common of which are wood stoves, pellet stoves, hydronic heaters, and forced air furnaces. The proposal, which would revise standards for wood stoves and pellet stoves and establish standards for other types of wood heaters for the first time, appeared in the Federal Register on February 3. This began a public comment period that is scheduled to run until May 5, 2014.

According to EPA, smoke from wood heaters contributes hundreds of thousands of tons of fine particles to the air throughout the country each year, accounting for nearly 25% of all area source air toxics cancer risks and 15% of non-cancer respiratory effects. In many areas, in wintertime, wood heaters are the largest source of particulate air pollution; yet many heater types are not currently subject to any federal emission standard.

The proposed rule would only gradually reduce this pollution, because it would apply only to new heaters (not those already in use) and it would give the industry a five-year grace period before its most stringent standards would take effect. Wood heaters can last for 40 years or more, so it will be decades before the full health benefits of the rule would be attained.

Nevertheless, the rule would eliminate an estimated 210 to 470 premature deaths annually in the 2014-2022 period, according to EPA, as well as reduce hospital admissions and lost work days due to respiratory illness. EPA quantifies these benefits at $1.8 billion to $4.2 billion per year during the 2014-2022 period, more than 100 times the agencys estimate of the annualized cost to manufacturers, $15.7 million.

Trade associations representing the affected industries and companies in the industry have mixed views of the proposed standards. While supporting revision of the current standards and the inclusion of additional heater types, they express concern that the standards as proposed will impose too great a cost. Facing higher costs for new units, homeowners will continue to use current, highly polluting equipment, rather than replace it, the industry maintains. Many have also expressed concerns regarding the process to be used in certifying compliance and the short period of time in which currently available units could be tested and certified.

These concerns, as well as the widely acknowledged health effects, have generated substantial interest in the proposed rule in areas where wood stoves are used as heating sources, and Members of Congress from those areas have written EPA to express concerns regarding the proposed rules possible impacts. The subject has also been raised during hearings on EPAs FY2015 appropriation request, and legislation (H.R. 4407) has been introduced to place limits on EPAs authority to set the standards.

This report addresses some of the most frequent questions raised concerning the proposal, in order to provide basic information about EPAs action, its potential impacts, and industry and other reactions to the rule.