Alaska as well as nine additional states also notified of the Environmental Protection Agency they intend to file a lawsuit if new regulations for wood-burning stoves’ certification are not released soon.
The EPA has last set standards for wood-burning stoves in 2015. New standards will be issued at minimum every eight years. according to in the notification of intention to suit that was released on the 29th of June.
The most significant issue, according to according to the notice is that the standards of the EPA for 2015 are flawed, not properly managed and allow devices that aren’t up to standard to get certified creating more pollution and misleading consumers.
A notice to suit grants the agency a period of 60 days to develop new standards for wood stoves and an improved process to test and certify the units.
Alongside Alaska The states that filed not-intent to sue include New York, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
For Alaska the main problem is the fine-particulate pollution that occurs in the Fairbanks region, which could be a significant issue and health risk in winter.
The problems with air pollution originate from wintertime conditions of weather known as inversions. These are conditions caused by mountains which trap cold air over the city and areas outlying. Wood-burning stoves’ particulate matter and other sources could be trapped in the stagnant air, which can lead to violation that violate Clean Air Act standards. Despite years of improvement and improvements, Fairbanks North Star Borough is still in violation of Clean Air Act standards. Fairbanks North Star Borough is still believed to be lagging below Federal standards regarding particulate pollutants, classified as an “nonattainment zone.” The Borough is subject to an improvement plan that is being developed by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation which requires EPA approval.
The most recent state improvement plan known as an SIP still is being re-examined by the EPA and the final decision expected before the close in the calendar year.
The EPA on December. 30 offered mixed opinions on the plan and recommended approval of certain elements, while denying other elements. The provisions pertaining to wood-burning stoves, as an example were considered to merit approval, while other provisions, which mostly concern commercial use, were considered inadequate. The agency argued that the state was in error when it failed to justify the decision not to require the most advanced technology that is used in oil and coal-burning power plants, and also in not justifying the decision not to require ultra-low sulfur fuel for commercial and residential applications, in addition to other flaws.
State officials claim that wood-burning stoves are the cause for the majority of the city’s pollution of the air and any new rules regarding power factories, commercial operations and diesel fuel are burdensome.
“We have to defend this area of the Greater Fairbanks area from potentially expensive and restrictive federal restrictions on businesses that aren’t at the root of the issue like restaurants, coffee roasters and utilities,” Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor declared in an statement issued this week from Department of Law. Department of Law.
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune said wood smoke is responsible for 80percent to 90 percent of the borough’s air quality issues. “Unfortunately, EPA regulators in Seattle and Washington, D.C. are concentrated on aspects of the SIP which will provide very little or no environmental benefits or, at best, make it extremely costly for the utility ratepayers,” he said in the Department of Law statement.
However, the data provided by the EPA who has been awed by Fairbanks improvement in burning wood, suggests these stoves pose less problematic that they once were, and that the legitimacy of certification is an issue that is relatively minor in the city.
Since the year 2010, there have seen hundreds of stoves repaired, replaced, or changed to non-wood units according to EPA information. The new stoves that burned wood constructed between the years 2010 between 2010 and 2022 had significant improvements in performance, as per the information. In 2022, average emission per stove was lower than a quarter of what it was in 2010 as per the data.
Since the year 2016 — when the standards that were set in 2015 had been implementedthe borough has 158 certified wood-burning stoves that are EPA-certified have been installed across the borough, based on the EPA’s statistics. Since then, a lot of the switchover was due to the conversion of other forms of heating.
The Alaska Legislature this spring adopted the resolution calling for a resolution to the state-EPA conflict. The resolution, House Joint Resolution 11 called for the EPA to revise its wood-stove standards to make them more effective and reliable. It also demanded to the Department of Environmental Conservation to “develop an economically and legally sound state-wide plan of implementation to implement an area of Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment zone.”
Apart from Alaska’s concerns over concerns about the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the state’s notice also highlighted concerns that communities with low incomes and minorities are more affected by the smoking from wood released by heaters that are not certified. “Many of these heaters will be placed in communities that are already burdened with environmental issues and injustices, thereby exacerbated environmental justice concerns,” the notice said.
The states’ notice of complaint cited specific deficiencies in the Wood-stove certification program run by the EPA.
These citations include one EPA Inspector General’s Report released in February, which concluded that the standards for 2015 were not up to scratch and that the inaccuracy of tests and oversights could have meant that consumers received inferior products that were marketed by the label “certified.”
The notice also referenced an 2021 study by a group comprised of eight Northeast states that analyzed more than 250 certified wood heaters by the EPA and discovered “a systematic flaw in the whole certification procedure” and an absence of oversight, resulting in an “dysfunctional” process. In a lot of cases, the labs and manufacturers have were unable to accurately measure the results, resulting in consumers receiving inferior products, according to the report.
Bill Dunbar, a spokesperson for EPA’s Regional 10 office, told reporters this week that the agency will not provide any information on litigation that is pending.
The story was originally published in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
