[Stoves] Woodstove rules in western North Carolina amount to 'jumping on the crazy train'

Mon May 30 14:32:44 CDT 2016

Dear Wood Stove Friends

I have a comment on good authority (there really are authorities in this
matter) that the 'one death per day avoided' is baseless conjecture. One
consultant called the claim 'plain fraud', there being no real basis for
making it (the claim). In other words you can claim what you want and no one
can prove anything one way or the other because there is no data underlying
them.

This is sort of related to the Pellet Stove competition discussed previously
in that the rules the EPA envisages being implemented are being used as
performance criteria. Something that has manufacturers up in arms is the
test method applied because the test conditions are so different from
typical conditions of use. 

A number of initiatives are on-going with respect to test methods. Some
states have their own test methods and performance requirements which
complicates things for manufacturers as they have to 'tune the stove' to the
test methods, really not provide a low emissions, efficient user experience.

We had just experienced on this list Kirk tuning his stove (making it less
efficient) in order to 'get a better number' for an invalid metric. In the
same manner, manufacturers create stoves that 'test well' by gaming every
possible aspect of the test to get the best number they can. At the moment,
the main cheat involves sustaining a char-burning phase for as long as
possible as the emissions are rated 'per minute'. As a char burning phase
has zero PM2.5, the longer the char burn can be sustained, the smaller the
resulting number when the total PM mass is divided by time.

Regards

Crispin

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/04/23/bill-turns-thumbs-w
ood-stove-rules/26263837/

Bill turns thumbs down on woodstove rules

 <http://www.citizen-times.com/staff/30315/mark-barrett/>  Mark Barrett,
mbarrett at citizen-times.com <mailto:mbarrett at citizen-times.com> 6:05 p.m. EDT
April 23, 2015

Rules on wood stoves are "a point where the EPA has really hopped on the
crazy train for us in Western North Carolina," Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell,
told the Senate.

<http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/ffe5082ad4365c05ae4313b21c56c3e4e9f9338d/c=
110-0-1890-1335&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/Asheville/2015/04/23/B9317094
675Z.1_20150423180040_000_G5BAJE8D1.1-0.jpg> Buy Photo

(Photo: Katie Bailey/bkbailey at citizen-times.com
<mailto:bkbailey at citizen-times.com> )

RALEIGH - North Carolina would not take part in a federal effort to more
tightly regulate emissions from new woodstoves, a common source of heat in
Western North Carolina, under a bill that passed the Senate Thursday.

But, state regulators had not planned to participate anyway, said Tom
Mather, a spokesman for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Sen. Ralph Hise, a Mitchell County Republican who is one of three primary
sponsors of the bill, told the Senate the rules are "a point where the EPA
has really hopped on the crazy train for us in Western North Carolina."

The state, he said, cannot "change the federal regulations, but we can not
adopt them," he said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is implementing restrictions it
estimates will reduce fine particle emissions from wood heaters by nearly 70
percent. It says that will mean an average of one fewer premature death per
day and yield about $100 in public health benefits for every $1 of
additional cost to manufacturers.

Among WNC counties, the percentage of homes heated by wood ranges from 4
percent in Buncombe County to 17.6 percent in Yancey County, with the rate
falling somewhere between 5 and 11 percent in most counties in the region.
New Buck Corp. makes the popular Buck Stove brand of wood-burning stoves in
Spruce Pine.

<http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/03/08/new-epa-wood-stove
-rules-concern-makers-users/24616847/> 

<http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/03/08/new-epa-wood-stove
-rules-concern-makers-users/24616847/> CITIZEN TIMES

<http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/03/08/new-epa-wood-stove
-rules-concern-makers-users/24616847/> New EPA wood stove rules concern
makers, users

Mather said state regulators "are not involved with wood heaters at all. ...
We've never even looked into it. I'm not sure where this came from."

The state enforces many rules the EPA adopts under an agreement with the
federal agency. But Mather said in the case of woodstoves and similar
devices, the EPA rules fall directly on makers of new stoves and the state
is not involved. The rules do not apply to existing stoves.

Dan Crawford, director of governmental relations for the N.C. League of
Conservation Voters, also said the bill would have a limited impact.

"A lot of us felt this bill was much ado about nothing," he said.

Another part of the bill would require that any new rules the state
Environmental Management Commission adopts affecting woodstoves be approved
by a three-fifths vote of that appointed body. It's unclear whether it might
affect other types of emissions as well.

"No longer is the state going to be on autopilot for putting in the state
rules what the EPA is cramming down on us," the bill's lead sponsor, Sen.
Chad Barefoot, R-Wake, said during Thursday's floor debate. Sen. Jim Davis,
R-Macon, is also a primary sponsor.

The bill passed 40-9 and will be sent to the House. Sen. Tom Apodaca,
R-Henderson, complained on the floor that some senators from urban areas had
voted against the bill.

Instead of visiting the mountains in the winter when people are burning wood
to heat their homes, bill opponents "may want to wait until summer," he
said.

Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, responded that he voted against the bill because,
"We've got a very good rule review process" already to determine whether to
adopt rules coming down from the EPA.

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