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.
These multitude of abuses render this government illegitimate.
I’m out in rural America. My stove makes a difference. I cut the wood, my own wood, I split it, I stack it. My time is money, but it’s my time to use as I choose. That stove provides better heat and cheaper heat.
I guess I will have to slip over to Vinita OK and buy a truck load of nasty stinky COAL!
Franklin stoves are supposed to be pretty good.
Can’t find coal around here to buy, and I’m only an hour from Eastern Kentucky.
I’ve built quite a few wood stove and steel fireplaces in my life. I can build more for the underground wood burners.
I agree with your idea, but good luck getting anything done in this country ever again.
It’s becoming apparent that the only remedy remaining is to shoot the bastards when they show up at your house. (the ammo box)
So I guess the EPA will now be sending in SWAT teams to enforce their wood stove regs? :(
the reg will be nonenforceable
My outdoor boiler heats the house, the water, and the outbuilding. The propane and electric companies probably hate it, but that’s just the way it is.
“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.”
Welcome to the world of CRONY CAPITALISM!
Smokeless Bar-B-Q pits are next......right after banning burning wood in you home fireplace.
The solution today is to install another layer of thermal insulation around the house, and in the attic.....
I read of a guy in Wisconsin that built a house with 9 inch insulation and in winter the heat from the kitchen gas stove and the water heater was sufficient to keep the house warm.
That will only come about via an Article 5 “Convention of the States” proposed Amendment to the Constitution. Congress and the executive will never agree to such a law since that would severely limit their power.
“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”
Thats 56 thousand per life.
So to save all 300 million lives would cost us 16 trillion, 800 billion.
Just more empty talk. Republicans supposedly oppose a lot of things but they never take any meaningful actions to stop them.
Meanwhile federal agencies are running wild, effectively legislating on their own. Until Republicans make an example of some wayward agency nothing is going to change. Arbitrary rule making will continue to be forced on the American people. This is no way to run a government.
Can’t you just visualize the nerd who generated this estimate...show me your “Common Core” derivations, please!
Don’t go there. The EPA is likely to target them next and perhaps impose a user tax. There’s no limit to what it wants to control.
But, but, but, then congress critters would have to grow a spine...not likely...it’s for the children, dontcha’ know?
Lives are not being saved,perhaps they are being extended.
The twice burning wood stoves supposedly give off less emissions because there are less particles.
Personally, I think it’s to make people more dependent because they can’t turn off wood.
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