Monday, March 31, 2014

EDITORIAL: When smoke gets in the EPA’s eyes

Another of life’s pleasures goes the way of the light bulb

 

Nothing chases the chill of a cold winter’s night like pulling a chair up close to a wood-burning stove. The Environmental Protection Agency, which lives in mortal dread that somewhere, someone is enjoying life, wants to eliminate wood-burning stoves. President Obama has agreed to impose a tax on coziness, with new regulations proposed by his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

These new rules would reduce the maximum airborne particulate emissions for new stoves by 80 percent to 4.5 grams per hour initially, and crank down the allowable level further to 1.3 grams after five years. Achieving these targets will add between $300 and $500 to the cost of a stove, prompting fears that working-class folk who typically burn wood to save money won’t be able to afford to do so. A period of public comment on the proposed standards ends May 5.

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