Environment Committee

JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT

SPONSORS OF BILL:

Environment Committee, Department of Environmental Protection

REASONS FOR BILL:

The purpose of the bill is to require sellers of outdoor wood burning furnaces (OWFs) to provide potential purchasers in this state with relevant consumer information, and give purchasers the right to cancel an OWF contract within three days.

SUBSTITUTE LANGUAGE: In line 70, after the period, delete the remainder of lines 70-74

RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:

Gina McCarthy, Commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

Supports the bill. We appreciate the committee raising this bill at the request of the DEP. This proposal was developed in concert with the Department of Consumer Protection. This bill seeks to amend section 22a-174k of the Connecticut General Statutes to require sellers of outdoor wood burning furnaces (OWFs) to provide potential purchasers in this state with relevant consumer information, including a full disclosure of the current restrictions on siting and operating OWFs in Connecticut, and give purchasers the right to cancel an OWF contract within three days.

In 2005, the General Assembly enacted restrictions on the siting and operation of OWFs in response to concerns about air pollution and public health. Since then, the DEP has recorded 368 complaints, resulting in 36 active violation notices, 8 formal orders to discontinue use, and 5 orders under negotiation. To date, no owner has fully demonstrated the ability to successfully modify a violating OWF so as to continue to operate in compliance with the law. In some cases, siting restrictions make compliance impossible while the cost of coming into compliance is beyond the means of the owner in others.

This bill would make sure that potential buyers in Connecticut are aware of the legal restrictions governing OWF siting and operation before they have completed the purchase and installation of a new OWF unit.

While some cleaner models are available, the North East States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) has estimated that most OWFs produce at least 20 times more emissions of particulates matter (PM) than the current generation of EPA-certified woodstoves. The negative impacts from OWFs are greatly exacerbated when, contrary to the 2005 law and manufacturer's instructions, materials such as household garbage, tires, or pressure treated wood are combusted. Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont have adopted or are in the process of adopting more stringent rules covering OWFs.

If the purchasers of home improvement materials, dating services, health club memberships, and weight loss programs all enjoy a three day right of cancellation, the state should extend the same protection to purchasers of OWFs.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:

Judy Blei, American Lung Association of Connecticut

I want to be clear that the American Lung Association of Connecticut does not oppose wood burning. But outdoor wood boilers are a uniquely dangerous product due to their design, the sheer volume of toxic emissions they produce, their year round operation by some owners and their omission from the kind of federal EPA regulation that other woodstoves must follow. The volume of toxic emissions from these devices is hazardous to health.

We urge the committee to direct the DEP to report back to you on a number of critical related issues:

We believe that the State of New York has done more work on this issue than anywhere else in the nation. We urge the committee to direct the DEP to work with New York officials and adapt the final New York OWF regulations as policy for Connecticut.

David Boomer, Public Affairs Consultant, Central Boiler, Inc., Greenbrush, Minnesota

OWF buyers want to heat their homes with a natural resource without further increasing our dependence on foreign oil. We are confident enough in this product to believe that if a few consumers have second thoughts on their purchase, they should be able to cancel the order within three days by sending a written notice to the dealer and obtain a full refund. We fully support this section of the bill.

However, we oppose lines 63 to 82. Dealers give all purchasers an informational sheet that describes state law on siting; that the OWF needs to be 200 feet from the nearest home and that the stack height must be equal to the roof peak of any home within 500 feet. We also tell consumers the only material that should be burned is wood. This bill requires that we include a DEP informational sheet covering these very same issues with the sales contract. We feel this is redundant. But if this requirement is to be law, we ask that the committee specify the specific contents of the DEP information sheet in the statute.

NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:

Dr. David Brown, Public Health Toxicologist, Environment and Human Health, Inc., (EHHI)

Outdoor wood burning furnaces cannot be regulated to safe use but instead must be prohibited from operation in the State of Connecticut. A number of towns in New England have already banned these devices from being operated within their town limits. The human health risks of asthma, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular heart attacks are linked to the exact types of wood smoke emissions releases from outdoor wood boilers. In terms of emissions, OWFs may emit 37,000 to 250,000 tons per year of a mixture of gases and soot. This is more than any other source including wood stoves and fireplaces.

The responses of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the hazard from OWFs have been a total failure because that agency insists on averaging the extremely high hourly short term exposure over a longer period of 24 hours to be consistent with their particulate air standards. The public health risks have been totally ignored by EPA and manufacturers of OWF as they both wait for actual documentation of human morbidity and mortality.

No health studies have been conducted that show anything but severe health damage from the components of OWF emissions. Connecticut should waste neither time nor resources on these devices and follow common sense and ban their use.

Thomas Swan, Black Swan-Fireside

In this bill, the dealer is being given the unfair burden of providing the regulation paperwork that should be handed out by the building department at the time the permit is issued. In the towns that I work in, many of the building departments make the home owners aware of collateral requirements, when permits are applied for.

I am also troubled by the possibility of a person receiving three times the money spent by saying that the regulations were not received. I believe that the state already has a consumer right to rescind within three business days.

I want to make something very clear: I do not sell or use an outdoor furnace. I have been in the alternative heating business for thirty years, I believe that these products do have a place in our world as a means to help people heat their homes and not be dependent on oil or gas heat.