Cheryl K. Chumley
Newsmax
18 Feb 2014
The Environmental Protection Agency recently imposed restrictions on wood-burning stoves that will deal a blow to rural Americans who rely on wood to heat their homes.
Critics charge that the rule changes were enacted following pressure from environmental groups.
The EPA tightened restrictions in January on the level of fine airborne particulate emissions that wood-burning stoves can emit, from 15 micrograms per cubic meter to a maximum of 12 micrograms.
The EPA restrictions would ban the production and sale of the kinds of wood-burning stoves that compose 80 percent of those currently in use in the United States, Forbes reported.
“Although this is an ancient technology, it can provide a solution for high heating costs in many parts of the country,” Laura Huggins, a research fellow for both the Hoover Institution and the Property and Environment Research Center, told Newsmax.
“With up to one-third of this country’s energy consumption used for heating, policymakers would be wise to consider the benefits of wood as a heat source,” Huggins said.
In the face of tightening economies and rising heating costs, more Americans have been turning to cheaper, archaic sources for heat, especially those in poorer areas…
…In October, attorneys general for some of the most liberal states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, and Oregon — filed suits against the EPA seeking restrictions on wood-burning heaters…
The complete article is at Newsmax.
