Freedom of Air - Public Awareness of Outdoor Wood Boilers

"Even in a place with clean air, you could always end up living next to a neighbor who uses an outdoor wood-burning boiler."

Kevin Stewart, Director of Environmental Health with the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic.

April 2013 in an article on Tips for Dealing with North Jersey's Air Pollution in the North Jersey ...

News Quote for March 2013:

"When the wind comes from the south, which is often, my home is covered with smoke. The smoke is also taken into my home by the cold air intake for my furnace.......I have to wear a breather mask to walk anywhere on my property."

Bill DeRoche, Knife River, MN

Regarding the use of a...

News quote for February 2013:

 "She's crying because she can't breathe..........she's coughing to the point of throwing up, Even in the house, the smoke is coming in and it smells awful."

Krystal Francesco, North Pole, Alaska

Regarding the use of OWBs in her neighborhood and the impacts on her 2 year old daughter featured in the Los Angel...

This month's quote for January 2013:

"I can’t understand why anybody would want to have the wood fires because you could actually really kill your neighbors,The smoke isn’t the problem — the particulate matter is the problem.”

Scott Clark: Niles, MI City Council Member, in response to the City Ordinance restricting OWBs, January 201...

This month's quote for December 2012:

"Residential wood burning devices, like outdoor wood boilers and stoves, are the largest residential source of particle pollution. Emissions of harmful air pollutants from wood burning can have significant health impacts on users and their immediate neighbors."

After a long hiatus, we have decided to return and continue to update this site with the newest news articles, research, and studies that we find about OWBs.

Please be patient as there is about 2 years of backlogging that we will need to update to make this site what it once was.

We hope that this site can provide information for anyone who is in need, and we offer you as much support as we can to you and your families. ...

This month's quote for September 2010:

"The rules (proposed OWB rules) give Indiana the power to help residents who are "being smoked out" by a neighbor's boiler."

Jodi Perras, Improving Kids' Environment, Executive Director, Indiana September 2010

...

This month's quote for August 2010:

"The wood boilers are an (Environmental Protection Agency) issue, not a fire department issue,"

Dave Ward,Fire Assistant Chief Lancaster,PA August 2010

Doing research this past week we stumbled across the following add in Craigslist:

http://toledo.craigslist.org/grd/1876998961.html

"I have 36 Outdoor Wood Boilers Left from the 09 season they are NEW andcome with a 20 year warranty. I am dropping them way below cost to movethem out. You will not find a lower price on a GOOD boiler thi...

This months quote for July 2010:

"State government hasn’t done enough to ban the furnaces."

Roger Smith, member of the Connecticut’s Clean Energy Taskforce July 2010

If you come across any quotes you wish to see featured on our page please...

This months quote for June 2010:

"The American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest is greatly concerned about air quality and we concur that Hydronic heaters, when operating improperly, may have adverse effects on respiratory health." 

Harold Wimmer, President & CEO American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest Serving: Illinois-Indiana-Iowa-...

Just a reminder there are only a few more days left to submit comments to the New York DEC:

The public comment period for will end at 5:00 p.m. on July 2, 2010.Written comments may be submitted to: NYSDEC Division of Air Resources,625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-3251 or by email:[email protected]

We have decided to add a quote of the month to the Blog and "Quotes" Page of this website. Please bear with us as this process grows. While doing research we commonly find quotes that are very reasonable and sometimes unreasonable. We hope you enjoy them as we look forward to posting one each month. 

This months quote for May 2010:

Please find below the list of locations for public hearings regarding OWBs in June regarding OWBs:

Thurs., June 3

Dulles State Office Building

1st Floor Auditorium

317 Washington St.

Watertown, NY 13601

Finally, New York state is taking a positive direction in dealing with OWBs. In this past week major news has come from New York from the state's

Department of Environmental Conservation. If you haven't already please take a look at the "News 2010" page and read about 10 stories talking about the New York actions being taken. 

Below are some of the keys to what the DEC is tryin...

We have decided to add a section on the quotes page for victims of OWBs, these quotes will all be taken from News Articles featured in the News Sections of this site.

If you are a reader of this site and are quoted somewhere in the news media (or knows someone who has been in the news) please contact us and let us know if you wish to be quoted on this site on the quotes page. 

You may or may not have noticed lately, but there has been an abundance of stories in Alaska in the news section this site regarding "OWBs" and wood smoke pollution.

Alaska Fairbanks Borough has been mandated by the U.S. EPA to clean up its PM 2.5 levels by a certain date because they have some of the poorest air quality in all of the U.S. To follow this you can read the stories in the "news section" for more...

Well to my dismay we had to "shut off" the guestbook comments for the time being.

On a daily basis we were being "spammed" by up to 10 "fake" guestbook signatures a day. It was really becoming a problem having to babysit the comments in the guestbook. Temporarily the only way you can comment is if you "subscribe" as a friend.

We apologize about this inco...

We have added a section to the Studies, Research, and Laws Page with related articles and research concerning "biomass" burning as a reneweble resource.

As you may know the OWB industry claims their products are "biomass" which is really bending the truth of what biomass means and represents.

Check out the Wikipedia page on Biomass:

The "Videos of the OWB"  Page is now up to date.

We have added our videos along with the videos of many other family's who have been impacted by the negligance and abuse of a neighbor's OWB.

If you have a video loaded to YouTube and would like to be added to the page, be all means please let us know.