EPA Releases Its Proposed NSPS Numbers
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Good news concerning the EPA's New Source Performance Standard (NSPS). Although the fat lady has yet to sing, it appears that the EPA is moving toward a standard that will be much friendlier to the hearth industry than previously thought.
The EPA is planning on one emissions number to include both catalytic and non-catalytic appliances. Despite rumors that the number might be as low as 2 gph, Gil Wood, EPA's staff lead for the NSPS, confirmed that EPA will propose the Washington State emissions standard of 4.5 gph.
The good news for manufacturers is that 85 percent of the current wood stoves and inserts already meet that standard. Pellet stoves also will be required to meet the Washington State pellet appliance standard of 2.5 gph.
The EPA has said that the NSPS revisions will include "all solid fuel heaters," and the HPBA has been arguing that wood-burning fireplaces are not heaters and that the voluntary ASTM Phase 2 standard should be accepted.
Wood also has confirmed that the NSPS will not include wood-burning fireplaces "at this time," and that the current ASTM Phase 2 voluntary standard will be accepted. The EPA is continuing to develop revised or new NSPS standards for hydronic heaters, single-burn wood stoves and masonry heaters according to Wood.
The EPA also has threatened to set standards for pellet fuel, but reaction by the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) to revise its fuel standards has met with favor from the EPA. "There are still some details to work out with the PFI, but we're very pleased by where the PFI fuel standards are headed," Wood acknowledged. "We are ensuring that no construction waste will be included in the fuel so we won't have to write new standards."
The proposed revised NSPS will be published in June of 2011, followed by a 60-day comment period. The final NSPS is to be published in July 2012. Wood stove and insert manufacturers will be required to produce products meeting the standard, "as quickly as possible," after publication of the NSPS, according to Wood. "The time to go into effect is a little bit shorter now, since 85 percent of the models already meet the standard."
Other products included in the revised NSPS will be phased in and published at various times, according to Wood.
Wood does offer caution about celebrating just yet. "I'm not the EPA administrator and we don't know for certain how this will all come out. Nothing is a done deal yet."
Not as bad as the industry feared, but nothing is written in stone yet.
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Good news concerning the EPA's New Source Performance Standard (NSPS). Although the fat lady has yet to sing, it appears that the EPA is moving toward a standard that will be much friendlier to the hearth industry than previously thought.
The EPA is planning on one emissions number to include both catalytic and non-catalytic appliances. Despite rumors that the number might be as low as 2 gph, Gil Wood, EPA's staff lead for the NSPS, confirmed that EPA will propose the Washington State emissions standard of 4.5 gph.
The good news for manufacturers is that 85 percent of the current wood stoves and inserts already meet that standard. Pellet stoves also will be required to meet the Washington State pellet appliance standard of 2.5 gph.
The EPA has said that the NSPS revisions will include "all solid fuel heaters," and the HPBA has been arguing that wood-burning fireplaces are not heaters and that the voluntary ASTM Phase 2 standard should be accepted.
Wood also has confirmed that the NSPS will not include wood-burning fireplaces "at this time," and that the current ASTM Phase 2 voluntary standard will be accepted. The EPA is continuing to develop revised or new NSPS standards for hydronic heaters, single-burn wood stoves and masonry heaters according to Wood.
The EPA also has threatened to set standards for pellet fuel, but reaction by the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) to revise its fuel standards has met with favor from the EPA. "There are still some details to work out with the PFI, but we're very pleased by where the PFI fuel standards are headed," Wood acknowledged. "We are ensuring that no construction waste will be included in the fuel so we won't have to write new standards."
The proposed revised NSPS will be published in June of 2011, followed by a 60-day comment period. The final NSPS is to be published in July 2012. Wood stove and insert manufacturers will be required to produce products meeting the standard, "as quickly as possible," after publication of the NSPS, according to Wood. "The time to go into effect is a little bit shorter now, since 85 percent of the models already meet the standard."
Other products included in the revised NSPS will be phased in and published at various times, according to Wood.
Wood does offer caution about celebrating just yet. "I'm not the EPA administrator and we don't know for certain how this will all come out. Nothing is a done deal yet."
Not as bad as the industry feared, but nothing is written in stone yet.