Critics Warn The EPA Will Ban Up To 80 Percent Of Wood And Pellet Burning Stoves In America

EPA to ban wood heat

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to finalize a set of regulations where ultimately  80 percent of the wood- and pellet-burning stoves will be banned in America.

The reason for this is the EPA has argued that the new regulations would improve air quality. The regulations require new stoves to burn up to 70 percent cleaner.

“Residential wood smoke causes many counties in the U.S. to either exceed the EPA’s health-based national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particles or places them on the cusp of exceeding those standards,” the EPA previously said. “To the degree that older, higher emitting, less efficient wood heaters are replaced by newer heaters that meet the requirements of this rule, or better, the emissions would be reduced, the efficiencies would be increased and fewer health impacts should occur.”

It would be the first new standards on stoves since the 1980s.