April 9, 2009
RESPONSE FROM THE OFFICE OF SENATOR YVONNE PRETTNER SOLON
SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES, TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
From: William.Seuffert@senate.mn
Subject: Fwd: OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS POLLUTE!
Date: April 9, 2009 1:41:28 PM CDT
Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. We asked the PCA for some background
on this issue, and they sent the following:
We have received increasing numbers
of complaints over the past three years from neighbors of homes that have installed
outdoor boilers. The typical unit produces quite a bit of smoke chiefly because
they are used to burn large logs in a smoldering fire. Up until last year very
little had been done by manufacturers to control the smoke they generate. We
have worked with a number of cities to help them respond to complaints and to
help draft ordinances that try to get a handle on the problem.
EPA has a voluntary labeling program for "hydronic heaters" which is
their term that covers both indoor and outdoor wood boilers. The program allows
a participating manufacturer to label a boiler with either an orange or a white
tag if it meets emission limits (the white tag is cleaner than the orange tag)
Details of the program can be found at this web site: http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/what_epa_doing.htm
EPA also very recently announced that they are considering making the certification
mandatory at a level at least as stringent as the white tag. The timing of their
action however is uncertain. Minnesota is something of a hotbed of manufacturing
for hydronic heaters. Central Boiler is the largest. At least two Minnesota manufacturers
have received approval for white or orange tags for some of their models. Since
the white tag models cost a bit more than the standard models, I do not think
that many are sold in Minnesota. If resources allow, and EPA action remains uncertain,
the MPCA intends to propose rules latter this year to require that all of these
units sold in Minnesota meet the white tag limits.
Because we are past committee deadline, we can't adequately address this issue
this session. We will see what this proposed PCA rule looks like, and then consider
what actions can be taken during next session to appropriately address this problem.
Thanks again for the email.
Will
William Seuffert
Committee Administrator
Senate Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications Committee
Office of State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon
G-9 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd.
St Paul, MN 55155-1606
(651) 296-7593 (office)
(651) 225-7594 (fax)
william.seuffert@senate.mn
From: "Marnie Burau Kesler" <marnie.burau.kesler@senate.mn>
Date: March 27, 2009 2:44:39 PM CDT
To: "William Seuffert" <William.Seuffert@senate.mn>
Subject: Fwd: OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS POLLUTE!
Message:
Can you please help my wife, myself, and thousands of people like us,
who are facing an emerging health issue; one that was almost
non-exist ant a decade ago, but because of volatile energy prices has
become an issue which is literally and figuratively spreading like
wildfire throughout Minnesota neighborhoods right now.
I read with great interest the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
report given to the Minnesota Legislature in January 2009 called AIR
QUALITY IN MINNESOTA EMERGING TRENDS, 2009 REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE.
The summation of the 20 page report points out concerns relating to
the health and environmental effects of exposure to multiple
pollutants from two major areas 1) Transportation sources, and 2)
Residential wood burning. Specifically, as mentioned numerous times in
the report, OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS (OWB). These devices are unlike ANY
other form of wood burning. OWB's are like a wood stove on steroids,
in a class by themselves because of the disproportionately ENORMOUS
volume of smoke they emit. Most OWB's burn 24/7, every day of the
year, as a method of heating water for home use. Because of a loophole
in EPA regulations, OWB's were not included with INDOOR wood stoves
and fireplaces in air quality standards written in the 1990's. Around
this time, there were only a few hundred in existence; it is estimated
by next year there could be 500,000 installed in cold weather states,
in more and more high density residential neighborhoods.
From the forward to the conclusion, the MPCA report discusses issues
caused by wood burning, devoting a page to OWB's and their effects.
From the MPCA report, "As other traditional heating methods such as
electricity, natural gas, and fuel oil have substantially increased in
price, more Minnesotans have begun installing outdoor wood boilers.
Many of these boilers cause a disproportionate amount of air emissions
and generate a disproportionate level of complaints relative to their
numbers due to their often short stacks and relative inefficiency
which can create dense smoke." The report continues. "Residential
wood
burning contributed 12 percent of statewide benzene emissions, 19
percent of direct emissions from particles and 39 percent of
polycyclic hydrocarbon emissions. In fact, wood smoke contains many of
the same chemicals as tobacco smoke."
THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US IN OUR MINNESOTA NEIGHBORHOOD!
For several years now, we are LIVING what the MPCA report reveals.
Along with ourselves, a half dozen surrounding properties,
representing at least 20 people and 15 acres of property, complained
about the extreme quantity of smoke and odor on our properties created
on a regular basis, we were told by the City officials of Oak Grove
ours was an "isolated complaint", one that is not a widespread
problem, in their view. Add to that a lack of direction from County
and State officials on this issue, and little can be done. We were
told "since OWB's are legal, there is little we can do."
My wife suffers from asthma. Day after day smoke can fill the
interior of our home on a moment's notice when our windows are open,
heavy enough to trigger asthma attacks in my wife and headaches in me.
Unlike most Minnesotans, we dread the thought of Spring, as we can't
open our windows during warm weather. We are forced to keep all
windows closed all the time. The surrounding neighbors have problems
ranging from COPD to Minears' Disease and emphysema. A clear majority
of those living adjacent to the OWB point to the outdoor wood boiler
as aggravating their health problems for the last several years. One
of our neighbors took the batteries out of his carbon monoxide
detectors to silence them because the smoke from the OWB regularly set
them off(!)
Night after night our entire neighborhood will fill up with smoke.
Winter or summer, on windless nights we are blanketed in a thick gray
smog for thousands of feet. It's like something you'd see in Los
Angeles or other major city, not an outer ring Minnesota suburb. We
and our neighbors on several surrounding blocks live with greatly
degraded quality of life issues EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES, caused
directly by a single OWB. It has become bad enough we have put
together a web site with videos and descriptions of the problem we are
facing.
Please visit http://www.freeinside.net and see what an OWB in a
residential neighborhood REALLY looks like. It's not what the
manufacturers or salespeople want everyone to see, that's for sure.
The truth is literally choking.
We have lost our right to clean, breathable air on our own property.
Our local government will not help us. The County says they are
powerless. Everyone says they follow rules from "those above", namely
at the State level. PLEASE HELP US by voting for stricter regulation
of OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS if and when the legislation comes before you.
And PLEASE don't "grandfather in" existing ones. The older they are,
the greater amount of harmful pollutants they emit. You will be
helping not just us, but thousands of Minnesotans undoubtedly affected
by outdoor wood boilers.
Respectfully,
xxxxxxxxxx
Oak Grove, MN 55011
Google "outdoor wood boiler complaints" or on Google News and you'll
find news stories, blogs, and web sites with experiences of people who
are forced to live next to OWB's.
A recent State of Washington Dept. of Ecology study came to similar
conclusions as the MPCA studies. "Tests found that the average fine
particle emissions (a particularly harmful pollutant) from one OWB are
equivalent to the emissions from 22 EPA certified wood stoves, 205 oil
furnaces, or as many as 8,000 natural gas furnaces. One OWB can emit
as much fine particle matter as four heavy duty diesel trucks on a
grams per hour basis. The smallest OWB is likely to have an emission
rate of 8.5 pounds of chemical soot ejected from the stack in a 24
hour period, or almost one and one-half tons of particulate matter
every year. Although older style indoor wood stoves emit more than new
certified stoves, they are still several times less polluting than
OWBs. Due to the poor combustion conditions, it is also probable that
OWBs emit proportionately more benzene, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, formaldehyde and other toxic partial combustion products
which have been linked to asthma, heart attacks and
cancer."
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/AOP_Permits/Boiler/Outdoor_Boilers_home.html
The installation of new outdoor wood boilers has been stopped in
Washington State by their Legislature, because of the dangers they
create to those living around them.