PERSPECTIVES dilemma, Williams was sympathetic, but he placed blame for their predicament on the DEC’s doorstep. “First of all, I think they do have the authority for any air quality problems in the state ... We don’t want to see anyone have health impacts. One of the things we do agree with the environmentalists on—that report notwithstanding—is that DEC’s staffing needs to increase for not only this but a whole host of other staffing issues that we see would help the
respiratory disease,” said Peter Iwanowicz, a former DEC commissioner under Gov. David Paterson who is now director of the Healthy Air Campaign with the American Lung Association. “It can be a respiratory irritant for people who have lung disease now, like kids who have asthma. And if you have underlying heart disease, the science says that a couple hours of exposure to heavy soot emissions could trigger a second heart attack and kill you.” Iwanowicz is among those experts who contend that wood boilers burn less efficiently than wood stoves or even fireplaces, so the quantity of pollution they emit is much higher. He also speculates that some owners may burn illegal substances— like tires and garbage—since they can do so The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management in the privacy of published an assessment of outdoor wood-fired boilers in 2006. their own yards. “That’s a environment and farming in the state.” problem,” says Iwanowicz. “The ALA has filed Perhaps surprisingly, the Albany-based a notice of intent to sue EPA to get at that very lobbyist for a large wood boiler company issue federally because we don’t see states admits that the units cannot be installed just acting fast enough. EPA is supposed to update anywhere. Philip H. Gitlen, Esq. is the co– standards every eight years. They haven’t done managing partner in the Albany law firm of it in nearly a quarter of a century, so we’re Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, and outside getting ready to take action on all these devices: counsel to Central Boiler. Gitlen states that the wood stoves, indoor versions of these devices industry must rely on the good sense of the and, of course, outdoor ones. It’s time to clean people who purchase their products. them up.” “Central Boiler requires that [people who The Lung Association isn’t alone in this buy wood boilers] acknowledge what the local effort. New York’s attorney general and seven requirements are on setbacks, on installation, others states’ AGs have also put the EPA on on locations and the like, and that they notice that they want standardized laws represent and warrant to the company that governing residential wood burning heaters. they are going to comply with them.” They will decide whether to take action against For some environmentalists like Citizens the EPA in the first week of October. Campaign’s Bill Cooke, there is no middle Bonnie Lichak doesn’t want to get her ground. hopes up. “The truth is that wood boilers are bad for “Nine years of bureaucratic nonsense. people downwind. We’re talking about heating Multiple levels of government. Laws they will the way they did 10,000 years ago!” Comparing not enforce. We hired a lawyer for the outdoor a wood stove and wood boiler is like comparing wood boiler and consulted other people on a Prius and a Humvee, Cooke says. the indoor unit. We simply do not have the But Gitlen argues if you need more than money they want to do air studies and go to one wood stove, a single state-of-the-art court. We have been advised it could cost as wood boiler would be less polluting to the much as $60,000. So we are just trying to get environment. government to do its job.” The regulations are murky, but Gitlen, The fall foliage is just about at peak. For Williams and the Lichaks all believe the DEC most of us this season is one of the joys of living has the authority to shut down the offending in the northeast. For the Lichaks, their annual wood boiler if it chooses to flex its muscles; battle to breathe is just a few weeks away. the agency is simply choosing not to do so. At the same time there is a sense that DEC is in a Susan Arbetter (@sarbetter on Twitter) is the holding pattern, waiting for long-delayed EPA Emmy Award-winning news director for WCNY regulations for wood boilers. If that’s the case, Syracuse PBS/NPR, and producer/host of The the agency isn’t alone in waiting. Capitol Pressroom syndicated public radio “Soot pollution is linked to long-term program.
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Featured Environment-Focused Editorial Coverage: NY GREEN BANK: What are the odds that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $1 billion green bank will be successful? How will it actually work?
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