Posted on 02/07/2015 6:36:42 AM PST by xzins
When my husband and I move to a new area, we specifically look for a home with a wood burning stove. It’s cheaper and if the power grid goes down, we have a way to survive it. Yep, we’re preppers. These regulations are meant to do away with wood stoves and force people to get their heat from gas or electric, paid for at exorbitant rates from utility providers. In some areas, even with gas or electric, the only way to truly keep a home warm is with a wood or pellet stove. This is more of the EPA’s fascist heavy handedness, trying to control all we do and force us into behavior and routines like you would livestock. The EPA can pound sand as far as I’m concerned.
From the Daily Caller:
The EPA has finalized a 344-page rule to make wood stoves more environmentally friendly, meaning that millions of Americans will soon be forced to buy more expensive wood-fired stoves.
Republican lawmakers have opposed the rule, saying it would harm millions in rural America that rely on wood stoves to heat their homes every winter. With natural gas and electricity prices on the rise, wood stoves can be an economical choice for many living in the countryside.
“The EPA’s shortsighted regulatory overreach is once again hitting hardworking Montanans in their pocketbooks,” said Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines.
Some 2.4 million American households rely on wood stoves for heat. When the agency proposed the rule last year, critics argued 80 percent of wood stoves in use would not meet tightened standards and consumers would never be able to buy them brand new — raising energy costs for millions of people during the coldest times of the year.
“Thousands of Montanans rely on wood burning stoves for affordable, cost-effective energy — yet once again, the EPA is moving forward with new, costly regulations that could stand in the way of Montanans’ access to new residential wood heaters or burden Montana families with higher costs,” Daines said.
But EPA claims the rule will save lives while only costing $45.7 million per year. EPA also argues that forcing people to ditch their wood stoves will result in 360 to 810 fewer death per year from reduced emissions of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.
“To the extent that children and other sensitive populations are particularly susceptible to asthma, and that minority populations and low-income populations are more vulnerable, this rule will significantly reduce the pollutants that adversely affect their health,” the EPA said in regulatory documents.
The finalized version of EPA’s rule also gives manufacturers more time to make and certify stoves that emit fewer pollutants. Politico’s Morning Energy notes that “[c]ompanies that make small wood-burning forced air furnaces will have to meet first-step emissions limits by 2016, with large furnaces having until 2017.”
“All sizes have to meet second-step limits by 2020,” reports Politico. “EPA will also allow conditional certification for up to a year for several devices if the manufacturer gets an EPA-accredited lab to certify an emissions test.”
[…]
Wisconsin Republicans State Rep. David Craig and State Sen. Frank Lasee introduced legislation to prevent state regulators from implementing the EPA’s wood stove rules. Craig and Lasee argue the rule will only serve to raise energy prices for state residents and hurt manufacturers. Missouri has also introduced a law to block the EPA wood stove rule.
“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to introduce regressive standards that hurt Wisconsinites, particularly low income families who rely on wood heat,” said Craig.
States such as Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Wisconsin and other states that have very rural areas are not likely to take this sitting down. It will hurt millions of people and many just won’t be able to afford to get a new, more expensive wood stove. This has nothing to do with asthma or pollution either. That’s just another piece of governmental propaganda. It has everything to do with controlling energy and resources and wait for it… money. Like doing away with coal, this will also cause energy prices to skyrocket even more. We don’t have to see Russia from here anymore… we’re living in it.
Has the government ever before said that it will force people owning old cars to get rid of those cars? Old houses to get rid of those houses?
But it now thinks it can force people owning a prior generation of wood stoves to get rid of those stoves?
Do not we own our own property anymore?
No, we do not. We occupy our property at the pleasure of the government.
If govt can drive up the price of a new dimmer lightbulb to $10, I can’t wait to see what it will do to wood stoves
and of course then create new tax laws about wood stove credits
The EPA is not going to pay the cost of the new stoves.
Its a cost it simply passes on to Americans.
This is an example of Washington’s regulatory overreach that makes life more inconvenient and expensive for average folks.
There’s no great clamor for this new regulation in the country.
Gina and the EPA can kiss my (welding) rod. I’ll have any kind of wood stove I damn well please.
Kinda LOL! When “they” issue “air quality alerts” in our area they tell people they can’t use their wood burners to heat their homes. There’s alot of folks who only have wood burners as their source of heat so, do you think they’re gonna sit there and freeze? Uh, no. Do they have the money to retrofit? For a lot of them, no. Will they amend the obiecare medical monstrosity to include provisions for clean air/particulate matter emissions as health hazards?
Tell the govt. to go fk itself.
Wonder what the EPA thinks of fireplaces.
I despise this government and its EPA and BLM and its bureaus and agencies and departments.
Every bit of it is anti-normal people.
A 344 page rule is a lawyers wetdream come true.
Time to start decorating lampposts with these turds.
I’m sure they hate fireplaces, too.
The EPA approved fireplace with be a photo of a fireplace that you hang over the opening that used to hold a fire.
“Has the government ever before said that it will force people owning old cars to get rid of those cars?”
I don’t see where the article says people will be _forced_ to get rid of their old stoves. Demanding higher standards for selling them is different.
Remember Cash For Clunkers? While it didn’t _force_ people to destroy old cars instead of selling them, it did make it financially infeasible to resell.
Oh ya, you better install in the next few months and if you can’t do ALL of the work yourself, you better check with your county first.
If you think you’re going to sneak one past your local building inspector, you better go check your homeowners insurance policy.
“Un, sorry, your installation was out of code and you ARE NOT COVERED!”
He has erected a multitude of new offices by a self-assumed power, & sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people & eat out their substance.
Why would the EPA be arguing that?
“The EPA has finalized a 344-page rule”
We need a law that says any government agency that wishes to hand down a regulation, that regulation must be submitted to congress, as a stand alone bill (no attaching it to any other legislation so it cant be snuck in) for a vote. It must pass both houses of congress. And if passed, has to be signed by the president (the president can also veto it if he chooses).
No more of this handing down arbitrary regulations that is automatically law without having been passed by congress.
Make sure that the new regs include a ban on emitting any odors or gasses from your dead body when it thaws out and starts to rot in the spring.
I agree. If Congress passes a law and an agency feels compelled to implement it with 344 pages, then those pages must pass through Congress as a legitimate expression of Congressional intent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.