EPA to Publish Wood Heater Regulations by February 3, 2015

According to a story filed today by E&E's Greenwire, the U.S. EPA has settled a lawsuit filed by seven states and environmental groups on wood-heater emissions with an agreement that the agency will release overdue regulations next year.In a consent decree at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, EPA says it will publish the final rule by Tuesday, February 3, 2015, to update emission limits on residential wood heaters.

This means that the EPA will have to have all data from manufacturers that have already agreed to supply it, and from the EPA's own testing, by October so that the rule can be processed in time for the February deadline.  Progress on obtaining data from cordwood emission testing is reportedly coming along well, indicating that the EPA is likely to have sufficient data to set Step Two cordwood emission standards by February 2015. Click here for more on this topic.

The seven states -- Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont -- and environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, had sued EPA last October to compel the agency to issue the rules.

The Alliance for Green Heat welcomes this consent decree as it ensures that the EPA will not delay this rule any more than it has already.  This decree also gives manufacturers certainty about when the rule will come into force, which is vital for their planning.

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* Private Talks Yield Consensus on Key Issues in NSPS