1. Typical EPA-rated indoor wood stoves have an efficiency rating of 68-72 percent. Newer gas or oil forced air furnaces are 80-90 percent efficient. Typical outdoor wood boilers range from 28 to 55 percent, averaging a weak 43 percent efficiency.

2. A modern gas or oil fueled forced air furnace costs about 1/3 the initial cost of purchasing and installing an outdoor wood boiler. Depending on the continual expense of buying or harvesting fuel, cost savings for an OWB could vanish.

3. Outdoor wood boilers are bad for the environment. OWB's contribute a much larger proportion of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere (which contributes to global warming) than any other form of home heating.

4 . Outdoor wood boilers can emit as much cancer causing particulate matter (PM2.5) in one hour as 400 cigarettes.

5. Just 3 outdoor wood boilers will output more PM2.5 in a year than all the rest of the thousands and thousands of gas and oil furnaces in Oak Grove COMBINED.

6. Dry, seasoned wood burns more efficiently, but too quickly in OWB's. Owners often use damp wood (or other materials) to retard the burning process. This greatly increases the amount of carbon monoxide and other gasses, which are ejected with the smoke, directly out of the stack, and carried into neighboring properties.

7. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, responsible for issuing Air Quality Alerts, which pertain to any populated area, not just cities. From their section on wood burning and outdoor wood boilers: “How to Reduce Harmful Wood Smoke: No. 1. Stop burning wood during air pollution health alerts. If you hear that an air pollution episode has been declared on your TV or radio, do not burn wood until the episode is over.”

8. Enforcement programs in other cities have discovered OWB's burning much more than just wood, including tires, large bags of refuse, and railroad ties. Unfortunately, there are no enforcement programs for Oak Grove or Anoka County.

9. Pollutants from burning garbage can end up in our food. For example, smoke can contain dioxin. When livestock eat feed that has been contaminated with dioxin, the chemical is concentrated in their milk and meat. This is especially dangerous for developing children.

10. In the last few years, the increasing number of complaints about OWB's has lead to dozens and dozens of cities implementing codes to protect the health of neighboring property owners. Washington State has banned OWB's altogether, because in their words, "OWBs cause dense smoke and are equipped with very short smoke stacks so the smoke does not disperse well. This smoke endangers the health of you, your family and neighbors as well as the environment." They are also illegal to install in Maryland, and New Hampshire has banned older models that do not meet air quality standards.

Why would towns, cities, even entire States take these measures, unless they believed outdoor wood boilers are a serious threat to the health of people?

Information compiled from online sources including: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, New York Attorney General’s Office Report on Outdoor Wood Boilers, the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, and the Environmental Protection Agency.