This just in this morning from HPBA:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for New Residential Wood Heaters, also known as the "EPA wood stove certification program,†is the 1988 program that governs emissions for wood-burning appliances and controls the sale and import of wood stoves. In late 2008, EPA began the first revision of the NSPS in 20 years.
The NSPS revisions will impact all wood-burning appliances, expanding the program to include more types of wood-burning appliances than just wood stoves (e.g., pellet stoves, outdoor hydronic heaters, outdoor decorative appliances, masonry heaters, etc.).
The timetable for EPA’s completion of the NSPS has been altered several times, with the latest “soft†targets of early 2012 for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking or “NOPR" (i.e., the first draft offering by EPA), a comment period to run through 2012, and a Final Rule published in the Federal Register (the official document for federal regulations) in mid-2013. These dates are not firm and subject to change at any time.
The NSPS review continues to involve many difficult technical issues, although much of the work is taking place in private or sidebar conversations. States in the Northeast and the Northwest, represented by their regional organizations, continue to generate new issues and ideas, which require EPA, and consequently HPBA, to respond. HPBA continues to quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrate that the EPA-proposed emissions limits would severely harm the solid-fuel industry. With the inclusion of more products – pellet stoves, fireplaces, masonry heaters, etc. – members will be struggling to survive through extraordinary R&D costs on formerly exempt products. There are also continuing discussions on compliance timelines, testing procedures and variability, category definitions, emissions targets, economic impacts and the future of the EPA voluntary programs.
So it seems, there are no 'firm' dates and definitions yet in place for where the new EPA bar will be set.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for New Residential Wood Heaters, also known as the "EPA wood stove certification program,†is the 1988 program that governs emissions for wood-burning appliances and controls the sale and import of wood stoves. In late 2008, EPA began the first revision of the NSPS in 20 years.
The NSPS revisions will impact all wood-burning appliances, expanding the program to include more types of wood-burning appliances than just wood stoves (e.g., pellet stoves, outdoor hydronic heaters, outdoor decorative appliances, masonry heaters, etc.).
The timetable for EPA’s completion of the NSPS has been altered several times, with the latest “soft†targets of early 2012 for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking or “NOPR" (i.e., the first draft offering by EPA), a comment period to run through 2012, and a Final Rule published in the Federal Register (the official document for federal regulations) in mid-2013. These dates are not firm and subject to change at any time.
The NSPS review continues to involve many difficult technical issues, although much of the work is taking place in private or sidebar conversations. States in the Northeast and the Northwest, represented by their regional organizations, continue to generate new issues and ideas, which require EPA, and consequently HPBA, to respond. HPBA continues to quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrate that the EPA-proposed emissions limits would severely harm the solid-fuel industry. With the inclusion of more products – pellet stoves, fireplaces, masonry heaters, etc. – members will be struggling to survive through extraordinary R&D costs on formerly exempt products. There are also continuing discussions on compliance timelines, testing procedures and variability, category definitions, emissions targets, economic impacts and the future of the EPA voluntary programs.
So it seems, there are no 'firm' dates and definitions yet in place for where the new EPA bar will be set.
