NFIB Victories in Michigan!
NFIB backed legislation that will prohibit Michigan’s
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from enforcing EPA’s proposed
rule restrictions on wood stoves and wood burning appliances was passed in the
last week of the 2014 session and signed by the Governor into law.
Senate Bill 910, now Public Act 417 of 2014, will
prohibit the Michigan DEQ from enforcing any new EPA rule restrictions on wood
stoves and wood burning appliances, while resolutions SR 14 and SCR 127
memorialize Congress to halt the rules. At the federal level, Congressman Dan
Benishek, whose district includes the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan, is
a cosponsor of HR 4407 introduced by Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer
(MO-CD3) that also curtails EPA’s attempt to further regulate wood burning heat
sources.
Manufacturers of wood stoves and heating appliances have
estimated that the proposed new emission requirements could virtually end the
burning of wood for heat in the United States and more than double the cost of
new wood burning appliances. The new rules would also make it difficult or
impossible for homebuilders and commercial contractors to include fireplaces or
wood – biomass heating options in new construction.
Nearly 90 percent of wood stove manufacturers are small
businesses as are the dealers that repair and sell these devices. In addition,
these heaters are used by many farmers and small business owners in to offset
the high cost of energy in rural areas.
UPDATE: March 16, 2015
March 16, 2015 (Washington DC) EPA’s final rules on
wood heaters were published today in the Federal Register beginning the
countdown to compliance deadlines. As the rules officially take effect 60 days after
the final rule is published in the Federal Register the effective date will be
May 15 of this year.
Action
by NFIB at the state level (Senate Bill 910 – PA 417 of 2014) and at the
federal level (NFIB Submitted Comments to EPA Rulemaking and HR 4407) were
helpful in curbing EPA’s original approach to the rules that would have made it
difficult for wood heater manufacturers and users of wood heat to continue
using wood as a viable heat source. While the final rules will still be a
burden to small business, they are much improved over the original proposals.
The
new performance standards will be phased in over a five-year period. For
woodstoves, pellet stoves and hydronic heaters (outside or inside wood fired
boilers), the required standards will be take place in in two steps. The first set
of emission requirements will take effect May 15, 2015, and the second set of
emission requirements will become effective May 15, 2020.
An
important victory for small business and wood heat users is that the
final rule also allows retailers to sell woodstoves that meet the old 1988
requirements and for hydronic heaters through the end of this year. After that
date, new woodstoves and hydronic heaters sold at retail must meet the step one
emissions limit. Also, the standards apply only to new wood heaters and will
not affect wood heaters already in use in homes.
For wood-fired forced air furnaces, the final rule requires
wood practice standards beginning on the effective date of the rule, with
emissions limits phased in in two steps between 2016/2017 and 2020, to give
manufacturers the time they need to develop cleaner models and conduct
emissions testing. Small forced air furnaces will have to meet step one emission
limits by 2016. Large forced air furnaces will have an extra year to meet step
one requirements, with compliance required in 2017. All forced air furnaces are
required to meet the step two emissions limit by 2020.
It
is important to remember that government agencies, like EPA, can still propose
changes to these rules and compliance deadlines even after these rules are
implemented – speeding up the time tables and tightening requirements further.
It is important for NFIB to maintain vigilance over these agencies and for
small business owners to support our efforts in this regard.
The
specific EPA time tables and requirements for wood stoves, pellet stoves and
hydronic heaters (wood-fired inside and outside boilers) can be downloaded from
these sites:
EPA fact-sheet: Summary Requirements for Wood stoves and Pellet Stoves
EPA fact-sheet: Summary Requirements for Wood Fired Hydronic Heaters
