An Open Letter to the Utah Legislature in Support of Outdoor Wood Boiler Regulations

The Utah legislature is moving quickly to overturn very reasonable and fair regulations on outdoor wood boilers. Please consider adding your signature to the open letter below, urging Utah to keep the regulations approved by their Air Quality Board.

Utah's regulations allow the installation of EPA Phase 2 outdoor wood boilers in most of the state, but ban them from the very populated areas around Salt Lake which are in air quality non-attainment.

An outdoor boiler manufacturer is aggressively fighting to get the legislature to overturn those regulation based on many misleading statements. Click here for the flyer being circulated to Utah Senators, which argues that outdoor boilers are far more efficient and cleaner than stoves.

The legislation, HB 394, was passed by the Utah house yesterday by a vote of 79 to 12. It moved to the Senate today and will be voted on Wednesday or Thursday without being referring to any committee for a hearing. This legislation will "amend the powers of the Air Quality Board" and prohibit them from "regulating the sale, installation, replacement or operation of an outdoor wood boiler any differently from any other solid fuel burning devices."

If the Senate passes this measure, unregulated and unqualified outdoor wood boilers will be allowed to be installed in Utah.

If you can add your name to the letter below, please email your name (and affiliation if you want your affiliation to appear on the letter) to melissa@forgreenheat.org by no later than 4:00 pm on Wednesday, March 13.

For more information about this, click here.

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Dear esteemed members of the Utah Senate,

We, the undersigned, are writing to urge you not to vote for HB 394 which would overturn Utah's outdoor wood boiler regulations.

The Utah rule finalized by the Air Quality Board is very reasonable, fair and consistent with efforts and regulations in many other states. Revoking the rule is unwarranted and unwise and will open up a market for boiler companies to sell extremely polluting and unregulated appliances.

The efforts to overturn this regulation are based on misleading and inaccurate claims, as set forth in the flyer "Some Facts About HB 294." For example, the flyer claims:

"Outdoor wood boilers are completely legal in 49 other states and only banned in Utah's non-attainment areas."

"Outdoor wood boilers are many times more efficient than EPA certified indoor wood burners."

States all over the country are enacting regulations similar to the ones Utah developed. These regulations are reasonable and necessary to prevent the spread of the most polluting wood burning device in America -- outdoor wood boilers that are not EPA qualified.

At the very least, this bill deserves a full hearing and should not be voted on quickly at the very end of the legislative session. We urge you to protect the reputation of the Utah Senate and not vote for this flawed bill that is based on so many misrepresentations.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Outdoor boilers cleaner than wood stoves, boiler lobby tells Utah legislators

Legislators move to overturn outdoor boiler regulations

In a heated fight over whether outdoor boilers should be allowed in areas of Utah with poor air quality, the outdoor boiler lobby is trying to sway lawmakers with data that purports to show that boilers are cleaner than wood stoves.

However, the opposite is usually true.  Wood stoves tend to be far, far cleaner than conventional outdoor wood boilers.  Data provided by Central Boiler was deliberately misleading, and was dismissed by experts.

(Update: The outdoor wood boiler lobby was not successful and in March 2013 Utah passed regulations that restrict what types can be installed in Utah.)

The lead Utah resident pushing for regulations that would allow outdoor boilers, Daniel Leavitt, represented himself as a concerned citizen to the Utah Air Quality Board, and the Utah paper refers to him as a resident who operates his outdoor wood boiler to heat his home. But what the paper didn't mention is that Leavitt is also a prominent Utah lawyer specializing in government relations and the brother of the former Governor of Utah. In addition, Leavitt was being paid by Central Boiler, the boiler manufacturer leading the campaign.

In February, Utah adopted regulations that allowed the installation of Phase 2 outdoor boilers in most of the state but banned them in populated areas that do not meet federal air quality attainment standards. Central Boiler had fought against the regulations but were ultimately unsuccessful. 

After the regulations were promulgated, the boiler manufacturer took its case to the legislature. On March 7, a near unanimous legislative committee sided with Central Boiler. They approved HB394, which “prohibits the Air Quality Board from regulating the sale, installation, replacement, or operation of an outdoor wood  boiler differently than other solid fuel burning
 devices.” Om March 11, the bill was passed by the Utah House and moved to the Senate.

Central Boiler submitted comments arguing that Phase 2 outdoor boilers “are cleaner than EPA certified wood stoves.” David Leavitt, the "concerned citizen" hired by Central Boiler, is also carrying that message. "These outdoor wood boilers are vastly more efficient than burning anything indoors," he told the Deseret News.  

“Utah legislators should understand that even the best wood stoves and wood boilers are only as clean as the wood that is loaded in them,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat, a independent non-profit promoting cleaner and more efficient wood heating. Outdoor wood boilers have fireboxes usually ranging from 14-60 cubic feet while a wood stove firebox is 2-3 cubic feet.

"Outdoor boilers are often loaded with large, unseasoned and unsplit logs and trash, unlike stoves. This is a key reason that states regulate outdoor wood boilers and not stoves. Central Boiler advertisements showing efficiencies in the 90s are based on calculations that have been repudiated by the EPA," Ackerly added.

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said the objections that that Central Boiler and Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association (HPBA) had with the regulations were “similar” and publicly responded to them. Privately, some people say the positions of Central Boiler and HPBA had key differences but the public record does not reveal what they were.  

According to the Utah DEQ, the issues raised by Central Boiler and HPBA included:

• DEQ appears to place greater weight to various out-of-state agencies and others who are generally skeptical towards the emissions reduction results achieved under the US EPA hydronic heater program.
• DEQ has not provided scientific data or other rationale supporting what types of outdoor wood boilers were allowed under the rule.
• DAQ has not published any data showing that outdoor furnaces currently make impacts within the nonattainment and maintenance areas or that they will contribute to the exceedance of the NAAQS.
• The 1000 ft. setback from schools is not necessary based on modeling conducted by the State of New York.

In response to the first proposed regulations, Central Boiler argued that the “rule lacks scientific support and would unfairly prohibit Utah residents from purchasing and using clean-burning wood furnaces.” A main thrust of Central Boilers argument is that Phase 2 boilers “are cleaner than EPA certified wood stoves.” Specifically they claim that “average emissions for a Phase 2 OHH are 77% less than those from EPA-Certified woodstoves.” The full submission by Central Boiler can be found here.

"These outdoor wood boilers are vastly more efficient than burning anything indoors," Levitt said.

In response to repeated misleading advertising practices, the EPA sent letters to outdoor boiler manufacturers requesting them to desist from certain claims and statements.  

The EPA listed actual efficiencies of Phase 2 outdoor wood boilers at 39 to 78% efficient in 2013 with an average of 63%.  In 2016, after all boilers were required to meet EPA emission and safety regulations, efficiencies rose to an average of 74% and a top rated unit at 82% efficiency. As of November 2017, many units are above 85% efficiency and the highest at 90% efficiency.

Update, 3/13/13: The Alliance for Green Heat is organizing a sign-on letter to the Utah Legislature urging them to not vote for the Senate bill without at least a full hearing. Click here for more details. 

Utah Adopts Innovative Outdoor Boiler Regulations

Alliance for Green Heat, February 11, 2013 - A last minute attempt by a manufacturer to derail new outdoor boiler regulations in Utah failed. The State’s Air Quality Board passed innovative and balanced regulations that allow the installation of EPA qualified outdoor boilers in rural counties but ban them in populated counties that do not meet federal air quality standards. The regulations will take effect this spring.

This makes Utah the latest in a string of states to regulate the outdoor wood boiler, the most polluting residential wood heating technology on the market. Utah went further than most states, banning their installation in areas that already have poor air quality and where about 2 million out of Utah's 2.8 million population lives.

Utah is now the only state to adopt an installation ban on outdoor wood boilers in much of the state, but still allow their use in rural areas. Washington and Oregon have restrictions that effectively banned outdoor boilers in the entire state. Other states only regulate where they can be installed through property line setbacks.

Many states require boilers to be set back at least 50 feet from the nearest property line. New York and now Utah require 100 feet. Maryland and Rhode Island are the only states with regulations limiting installs to EPA qualified units that have no property line set backs.

An innovative feature of the Utah regulations addresses households that currently have outdoor wood boilers and now fall in the area where they are banned from installation. Those units are grandfathered, but families living in the banned counties can install another outdoor boiler in the future as long as it runs on pellets and is EPA qualified.

The regulations also require a 1,000 feet setback from a school, day care center or hospital, which may be the strictest such clause in the country. The maps below show the correlation between population density and the non-attainment areas in Utah.

Central Boiler fought against Utah’s new regulations arguing that the rule "lacks scientific support and would unfairly prohibit Utah residents from purchasing and using clean-burning wood furnaces." A main thrust of Central Boilers argument is that Phase 2 boilers "are cleaner than EPA certified wood stoves." Specifically they claim “average emissions for a Phase 2 OHH [outdoor hydraulic heater, another name for outdoor wood boiler] are 77% less than those from EPA-Certified wood stoves." The full submission by Central Boiler can be found here.

The Alliance for Green Heat supports regulations in all states that only allow the installation of Phase 2 qualified outdoor boilers and, like Utah, have setbacks or other regulations to prevent their installation in densely inhabited areas.

Click here for an overview of state outdoor boiler regulations.