Like PA, Rhode Island is also seeking comment on OWB regulation. If you submit your comments to PA, just cross out PA and place in RI in its place.

It's simple just email the email address below voicing the need for OWB regulation in Rhode Island. Once again mention our website if you do write so more people are made aware of TRUTH about OWBs! The Deadline to Submit is February 26, 2010

As quoted from the Rhode Island DEM website:

NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

IN RE: Adoption of Air Pollution Control Regulation No. 48, entitled "Outdoor Wood Boilers"

The Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) proposes to adopt Air Pollution Control Regulation No. 48, entitled "Outdoor Wood Boilers"and gives notice of intent to receive public comment on the proposedregulations and to afford interested parties an opportunity to submitdata, views, or arguments in writing on the proposed regulation. Apublic hearing on the proposed regulations will be held if DEM receivesrequest from twenty-five (25) people, a governmental agency orsubdivision, or an association having not less than twenty-five (25)members. If a public hearing is held, a notice will be publishedannouncing the date, time and place of such hearing.

Proposed APC Regulation No. 48 would prohibit the sale or installationof any outdoor wood boiler on or after 31 March 2010 unless it has beencertified or qualified by EPA to meet the Phase 2 emissions level forparticulate matter (0.32 pounds per million British Thermal Unitsoutput).

A copy of the proposed regulation can be obtained at the DEM website, http://www.dem.ri.gov. (Click on the Regulations link on the left hand side of the page and go to the Proposed Regulations section). Copies are also available at DEM's Office of Air Resources, 235 Promenade Street,Providence, RI. Any additional requests can be made by contacting theOffice of Air Resources at 222-2808, weekdays, 8:30 AM- 4:00 PM.

DEM has complied with the requirements of R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-35-3 byconsidering alternative approaches to the proposed regulations and hasdetermined that there is no alternative approach that would be aseffective and less burdensome. DEM has also determined that theproposed regulations do not overlap or duplicate any other stateregulation. DEM has complied with the requirements of R.I. General Laws§ 42-35-3.3 by submitting copies of the proposed regulations to theGovernor's Office and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC).

DEM encourages the submission of written comments. Written comments, tobe considered part of the administrative record must be submittedduring the public comment period. Written comments may be mailed ore-mailed to the Office of Air Resources and received no later than 4:00PM, 26 February 2010, at which time the public comment period willclose. The mailing address for comments is:Douglas McVay,

Acting Chief

Department of Environmental Management

Office of Air Resources

235 Promenade Street

Providence, RI 02908-5767

The e-mail address for comments is: [email protected]

Signed this 22nd day of January, 2010.

Douglas L. McVay, Acting Chief

Office of Air Resources

Click here to see this original Letter: http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/air/drft4810.htm

Click here to read the proposed OWB House Bill in Rhode Island: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/billtext10/housetext10/h7064.pdf

Check the Resources and Studies Page in the Future As We will keep it updated with the RI House Bill as it moves along.

Last month (see blog entry below) we posted about the urgent need for those oppossing OWBs voices to be heard in Pennslyvania.

I please urge you (PA resident or not) to please voice your opinions. All it takes is a simple email process. Write a few sentences about your own personal "hell" Just say you agree with OWB regulation.

This will be a precedent set if PA passes regulation, that hopefully other states follow.

To view the comments thus far

PLEASE CLICK HERE:

http://www.irrc.state.pa.us/Regulations/More.cfm?TypeID=3&IRRCNo=2802

If you notice we are listed, and if you wish feel free to include in your email the mention of our site: http://freedomofair.webs.com

EMAIL YOUR COMMENTS BY FEBRUARY 12 TO:

[email protected]

If you have been following the news over the past few weeks some major announcements have been made regarding banning and limiting the use of OWBs.  Please check out the News 2009 link if you haven't already and you will see many of the news stories we are referring to.

In Pennsylvania, the state's Environmental Quality Board is seeking public opinion on OWBs.

Written comments should be mailed to EQB, P.O. Box 8477, Harrisburg PA17105-8477. Comments by email are being accepted at [email protected] A subject heading of the proposal and a return name and addressmust be included in each email. If the sender does not receiveacknowledgement within two working days, the sender should resubmit thecomments.

Originally they were closing the session on Jan. 4, however they have extended their opinion period until Feb. 12, 2010.

If you live in PA and are victimized by an OWB now is your chance to be heard. Even if you do not live in PA we strongly suggest you contact them as this be a precedence for many states to follow. If this fails there may be no turning back, for your state.

Following that suit in Connecticut:

The Connecticut attorney general has announced he seeking a statewide ban on all OWBs. Here are a few exerts from his comments that we enjoyed:

Blumenthal said, “Outdoor wood-burning furnaces spew toxic smoke 24hours a day, seven days a week, sickening neighbors and contaminatingneighborhoods. A ban is necessary unless and until these furnaces arecompletely redesigned -- to stop their toxic impacts. Outdoor woodfurnaces emit the same toxins and carcinogens as cigarettes. The smokeparticles are so fine that they infest even the tightest houses andstrongest lungs, contaminating bodies and homes.

“These furnaces are a major and malignant menace, causing whole neighborhoodsnot only sore eyes and throats, but serious chronic respiratoryillnesses like bronchitis and pneumonia. They burn wood at relativelylow temperature, emit huge smoke amounts close to the ground and sendmillions of small soot particles into the air. They have met no federalstandards for safety and health.

“Complaints havedramatically proliferated as these furnaces become more prevalent --more homeowners burning wood in outdoor furnaces to avoid higher costoil or natural gas in tough economic times. Homeowners have no right topollute their neighborhoods -- raising risks of serious diseaserequiring inhalers and steroids and other common medical treatment.

In a nutshell that basically sums up everything that we have been talking about on our websites since we began this page. We really hope this does follow through in CT, unlike other states (such as Ohio) who's politicians were "bought" by the OWB industry.

If you live in Connecticut, please contact the Attorney General and thank him for his proactive approach to battling OWBs.

We have contacted both states showing our support and we hope that you can find the time to do the same.

As the OWB industry continues to promote their products one thing that is certain is that they are being very confused with Wood Pellet burners and Wood Pellet technology.  Below is an example of "wood pellets" at a coal burning plant which is converting to using pellets.  Next to that is a picture of chopped wood. Notice any difference?

As the untrained eye can see there is a significant difference in the two. And if any of the readers of this site are ever told that they are the same all you have to do is show them the proof and the truth.  However, with the corruption the OWB industry has used with elected officials they still will be heard more than us the victims of being forced to breathe smoke without choice. The only thing "green" about Outdoor Wood Boiler Companies and Sellers is the green printed, not the green that grows in our environment.

Well while conducting research this past week we came across the City of Denver's Outdoor Air Quality Page:

We really think this is a great way of addressing the issues of Air Quality. Sure not everything is perfect about the program but it is definately light years ahead of other city's mentality on wood smoke and air pollution.

I find that this is very interesting being Denver is a very "winterlike" environment.

This will be added to the links page.

http://www.denvergov.org/HomePage/OutdoorAirQuality/tabid/424908/Default.aspx

For some reason the link does not load. To access it go to www.denvergov.org and type in "Outdoor Air" in the search menu and the first result will be the page.

With the burning season on the brink we made sure the "links page" is current and up to date.  We added a few very important websites which each have a wealth of information regarding OWBs. 

If you know of a website we are overlooking or you have a website please contact us and we will make sure it is added ASAP.

Also to note the OWB Resources page is somewhat outdated but a lot of the information and websites are very useful.

We will plan on cleaning the page up a little bit in the future to make it a little more user friendly.

We plan on updating the FAQs section of our website for this upcoming year shortly. The last update was May 2008 so a few updates need to be made.

One in particular is the new crack that OWBs try to fall into by claiming to be like wood chip burning heaters.

Many people are just plain confused with what an OWB is compared to a wood-chip furnace or from an indoor furnace.

The OWB industry is now trying to be sly and act like OWBs are like wood chip boilers.   We all know that is bogus.

During the weekly update of the website in the news section I came across this news story.

If you have the time to read one article please take the time to do so:

http://7dvt.com/2009outdoor-wood-boilers-appropriate-technology-or-deadly-device

This article is exactly what we have been talking about for years. Is it really going to take someone's death to make people aware of how deadly Outdoor Wood Boilers are?

We were fortunate enough that we were able to "remove" ourselves from our situation. Unfortunately in the case in the article above how does a woman who works to support her family ever afford to go give up her home? Simple, she doesn't and now she is fighting.

Ms. Paris if you ever see this, we want to whole heartedly tell you that we admire you, please continue to tell your story and fight for what was once yours............ Your clean air.

We cannot post who or what brand of OWBs claim the following, only because we will not give credit nor in anyway publicize the OWB products they sell. But here are a few points to ponder:

The new OWBs on the market that claim their products are " EPA Phase 2 qualified"  are supposedly so wonderful and claim to have 85% efficiency.

We all know from the research posted on this website that generally OWBs at best only have about 30% efficiency. But not the new biggest best and wonderful models. RIGHT

As we have stated before would you buy anything that is 30% effecient? An example:

The computer you're using right now to read our page. If your computer only worked 30% of the time would you consider your computer an investment?

Your car you drive only working 30% of the time? Not a real reliable way for transportation.

But enough about unrelated items of efficient let's talk heating. A typical normal average gas or propane furnace is 90-100% efficient.

So now the " EPA Phase 2 qualified"  furnaces are claimed to be 85% effecient.

One ponders what modern marvel of technology has improved OWBs so much? Simple as quoted from one of the manufacturer's pages:

"Backup Dual Fuel System - (Dual Fuel model only) Can automatically provide heat with a gas backup burner if the operator does not refuel the furnace with wood."

Now you are seeing where we are going with this. The only 85% effecient models that PASS phase 2 USE gas to heat!

Now how about the argument from all the OWB owners out there saying that the reason you bought an OWB was to cut down on your gas bill? Gee buy the efficient model and have a gas bill. I am sure many people are lining up for this option on their OWB. This is like getting the undercoat at a car dealership, no one will pay for it if the cheaper alternative is there.

BOTTOM LINE: OWB Phase 2 models use GAS to lower their emissions. This allows the OWB industry to say a "clean model" is available but they really do not market this to sell. Instead you can buy the cheaper "dirtier, inefficient" model for much less. But the EPA looks the other way because there actually is a model that burns less because it is fueled by GAS!

Why will our governments not actually enforce the sale of the so called cleaner model and prohibit the sale of the inefficient models? Simple the claws of the HPBA have gotten into Washington and lobbied enough to have politicians look the other way.

While researching for updates this week for news articles we stumbled across this picture:

This is an old van converted into an Outdoor Wood Boiler.  Once again the point being made is, without any limitations on OWBs who is stopping your neighbor from putting this in their yard next to your home?

We want to share with you a question that was sent to us via our MySpace Page:
www.myspace.com/freedomofair

"Do you think it would be possible to find enough individuals with owb problems to interest an environmental attorney to bring a class action law suite against owb manufacturer, since it is their product causing all these health issues?"

We have been asked the question a few times over the past year or so and we want to specifically address it to you the readers of this site.

We know that many people visit this site on a regular basis, some right here in Illinois where we live. Some of you choose to remain anonymous in your problems with your OWB issues, which is fine.

At the end of this month it will conclude our third year consecutively dealing with this issue. We have spent a vast amount of time and money trying to tell our story only to be shunned away by many organizations and governmental entities who have the power to do something about this issue.

The frustrating thing we have found dealing with this is a lot of people want to be the lone ranger when it comes to dealing with their specific issue. Personally we have contacted many people across this country trying to help only that when we tell them they have to do some work they disappear and we never hear from them again.

Personally we want to ask those who visit this site to do just as the person who messaged us with the question above wrote. COMBINE OUR EFFORTS INTO ONE.

We have already spent thousands of dollars on legal fees for our individual case. But we would not hesitate for a second to give money to an attorney for a class action case if others were willing to burden the load also.  If forty families who have been devastated by an Outdoor Wood Boiler could front $1000 each that would be $40,000 we as a group could use to hire an attorney.

We reach out to you the people who value this website for all of the hard work and effort we put into this site to consider this notion.

Please feel free to sign our guestbook or send an email at [email protected] if you're interested.

We personally nor you in your individual case can stop the the Outdoor Wood Boiler industry alone. We must all work together.

We have been really busy trying to make improvements to the website. We decided to improve the "News" sections of the website by archiving all of the existing news articles from 2006 to present. However, we were able to locate a news story dating back to 2003.

At this time the articles are all still available on this website, but are also backed up in the archives of the website as well. This measure was taken to only ensure the security of the website, to make sure if someone maliciously attacked the site all of the hard work and data would be backed up.

Please take in consideration we were not keeping track of OWB articles until 2008, resulting in the low totals for 2006-2007. We hope to add more "older articles" as we come across them in the future.

I came across this video of a friend of mine showing the troubles he is going through fighting his battle with OWBs.

If only animals could tell us what they think:

We have now added the videos onto this page. Click on the "Videos of the OWB" page and enjoy.

We hope to eventually add videos of other victims to our page in the near future, so check back often. 

I stumbled across this youtube video while searching the web. I also was able to find a website this person developed. It has a direct link to our page on it as well.  Check out their website here:  http://sites.google.com/site/cleanairlaporte/

Well another year behind us, and another long year ahead of us.

If you noticed all of the adds on the site are now gone.

We started on updating the 2009 news page. So once again we hope that this helps anyone out there if they are being smoke out of their homes.

In February we are planning to "archive" all of the the news stories from 2006-2008. We will be re-routing the news stories from those years to another location, but they will still be accessible through this site. The reason for this is we are hoping to free up some space on this website, to add more content.

We plan on getting more videos and content added to the page as we continue to help this page grow.

I hope to handle the add problem on this website. I currently am working on getting the adds removed from the site promoting OWBs. It has bothered me for a while that adds promoting OWBs have infiltrated this site. Now I have had enough and they will be gone shortly.

I am hoping to have all news stories updated for 2008. If we missed one let us know.

I am also going to be probably archiving all of the old news pages. Meaning all of the news prior to 2009 will now be archived in another location. They still will be accessible from this page, just the setup will be a little different than the current news page.

Bear with us on this, it takes lots of time to do all this.

Over the past few months I have talked to a lot of people who also were inspired by their tragedy (neighbor's nuisance) to create their own websites. When I get the time I will post their websites on my "links" page as well as MySpace page.  But in the meantime below are some really good websites that if you're fighting this fight you should be aware of:

A Canadian Site
http://woodburnersmoke.net/

A Family's OWB Site from Minnesota
http://www.freeinside.net/

A Family's OWB Site from Madison, Wisconsin
http://woodgasification.spaces.live.com/



If you have a website or know of someone who does, please let me know and I'll be glad to add it.

While traveling to see family for Thanksgiving, we stumbled upon this advertisement at a gas station in southern Illinois. Remember the biggest argument from Outdoor Wood Boiler owners and the sales ploy by Outdoor Wood Boilers manufacturers?

Wood is a renewable energy and is so CHEAP, I save so much more money buying wood than I do using oil, natural gas, or propane.

Prices of oil has dropped rapidly in the last few months, but guess what wood prices haven't dropped at all, they have actually almost doubled in the last few years.

Well by doing a quick google search I found few examples of prices on cords of wood and how much they cost

Example 1:

FIREWOOD FOR SALE Green $200/cord. Season $300/cord. 16"-24" length.

*remember aren't we not supposed to NOT use "green" wood?

Example 2:

For the 2008 heating season I have approximately 20 cords of mixed hard woods for sale.  The tree species include apple,cherry, elm, honey locus, maples, oak  and a small  amount of cedar.  2008 Fall & Winter prices by the 1/2 cord ($150), full cord ($250)or multiple cords ($220).

Example 3:

$350, Seasoned Cord wood / Firewood Cut Split Hardwood-

New England Hardwood... Seasoned Firewood for Residential and Commercial use. 24mths , Cut, split, 16? .
Cord Wood
Fire Wood
Seasoned
Split
Delivery Extra Depending on Location




The gas station was charging $3.99 for about four pieces of wood. Yes FOUR pieces of wood.

That will last a whole 5 hours in the burner.


So let's have a quick math lesson here kiddies:

If a cord of wood costs at minimum $250 dollars (as you can see prices vary) and an Outdoor Wood Boiler uses 6-8 cords of wood a year in a heating season(this of course varies due to location) how much money is spent in wood alone?

*SEE PICS BELOW FOR A STANDARD CORD OF WOOD

$250(low total) X 7 = $1,750

So I can almost bet you can heat your house for that much in a heating season, I know I certainly can.


So once again as I mentioned in the previous blog entry, don't believe the propaganda that OWB manufacturers and owners sell to you. It is all bogus.