Freedom of Air - Public Awareness of Outdoor Wood Boilers

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.