In March 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a new regulation that established new restrictions on residential wood heater emissions, effectively banning a major portion of wood stoves currently on the market. This misguided rule will have negative effects on Americans in rural areas, who rely on wood heaters as an affordable home-heating solution.
Manufacturers are concerned that the EPA’s policy will cause small wood heaters to be too cost-prohibitive to produce.
Forbes.com reports that according to the US Census Bureau’s 2011 survey statistics, 2.4 million American housing units (12 percent of all homes) burned wood as their primary heating fuel, compared with 7 percent that depended on fuel oil.
The cost of additional regulations would fall to this not insignificant number of citizens who may not have a full slate of other heating options.
In an effort to counter the EPA on this regulation, Congressman David Rouzer (R-NC) introduced HR 1986, “Stop EPA Overregulation of Rural Americans.” This bill would repeal the EPA’s overreaching policy on new wood heater standards.
In a statement issued by Congressman Rouzer, he declared:
“This is an excellent example of EPA nonsense. The federal government has no business telling private citizens how they should heat their homes. This is one more regulation that will cause unnecessary harm and cost small businesses and families across America.”
Taxpayers should urge their Members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 1986 and repeal the EPA’s standard for wood heaters.
For more on NTU’s ongoing effort to curb other damaging EPA policies, click here.