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Hearth & Home September 2015

Good Idea, Weak Enforcement

By Bill Sendelback

The concept behind Oregon’s Heat Smart program is terrific, but it lacks a strong enforcement effort.

In August of 2010, the state of Oregon legislated that non-EPA certified wood stoves and fireplace inserts had to be removed from a home and destroyed when that house is sold. Known as the Heat Smart program, it became effective March 15, 2011, and since then a reported 1,945 non-EPA units have been removed and destroyed, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

“To remove the same number of uncertified wood stoves under previous grant-funded change-out programs would have required an estimated $5.8 million in grant funds,” according to Carrie Ann Capp, the DEQ’s Heat Smart program coordinator, “and we’re confident the number of actual stove removals is larger than the number for which we have received notification.” 

However, the DEQ also has found that often a stove has been reported to the DEQ as having been removed and destroyed when in fact it has not. Some non-EPA units are removed until the home inspection is complete, and then re-installed even with the potential of a $750 fine for non-compliance. 

“The fine is a deterrent, but we are not actually pursuing those who don’t comply with the law,” says Capp.

That’s the major sticking point in the program, according to area hearth retailers. In January, 2014, the DEQ had a major reduction in staffing, leaving Capp as the sole person to administer and supervise the Heat Smart program. As a result, Craigslist is not searched on a regular basis for non-EPA models being sold in the state, as an example. 

“We need to raise the awareness of this program and improve compliance,” says Capp, “by educating the realtors, lenders and home inspectors. It’s our intent to create a new compliance notification program and enforcement efforts.” But so far, the Heat Smart law is not included in home sale inspection and is not part of the addendum to the realtor disclosure information. 

“Some realtors understand and support Heat Smart,” Capp adds, “but some dislike the program and question its value because of the lack of enforcement. We were looking to the realtors and assumed they were complying with the program, but that doesn’t always happen. Many realtors lack the enthusiasm to be our enforcers.”

Harvey Gail, Executive Director
Oregon HPBA

“Heat Smart is a really good law,” says Harvey Gail, executive director of the Oregon HPBA affiliate, “but even when complaints of non-compliance or selling non-EPA stoves are aired, fines never happen. Hearth retailers are saying it’s time to re-educate realtors. Many realtors don’t know what the law is, and some are actually asking to have EPA models pulled that don’t need to be removed. Heat Smart is viewed by many as the DEQ not acting fast enough or tough enough.”

“Heat Smart is a great program and a wonderful idea for cleaner air,” says Guy Stewart, Sales manager of Lisac’s Fireplaces & Stoves in Portland. “Quite a few customers are coming in as a result of the program. We’ve sold about 100 new stoves in our two stores as a result of Heat Smart, and only about two percent decide not to put in a new model after removing the non-compliant appliance.” 

Guy Stewart, Sales Manager
Lisac’s Fireplaces & Stoves

The DEQ’s Capp estimates that one-half of the reported removed non-EPA stoves are replaced with EPA models while one-half are simply removed. Stewart confirms that consumer and realtor education is needed. 

“Half of the realtors don’t understand the law and the other half, the old agents, think they know it all but really don’t. Home inspectors should be educated and included.”

“We like the program, but I don’t think we’re getting additional sales from it,” says Roger Sanders, president and owner of Fireside in Bend, Oregon. “Even though we’ve had a similar stove removal ordinance in our area for 15 years, most customers are not aware of it. That, too, wasn’t really enforced.” 

Sanders says his sales of wood, gas and pellet stoves/inserts have been slowly eroding. Sales of fireplaces, grills and hot tubs have accounted for Sanders’ last three strong sales years and a 27 percent sales increase this year.

“Heat Smart is a very solid idea,” comments John Crouch, the HPBA’s director of Public Affairs. “It’s now part of the ideas being considered in the San Francisco Bay Area. But realtors tend to go nuclear over it. We’re up against the extreme resources of realtors. We’re just not organized at the local level like the realtors, and we’re getting pushback from landlords.”

Exempt from Oregon’s Heat Smart program are pellet stoves and inserts, wood fireplaces, masonry heaters, antique stoves built before 1940, wood cookstoves, central wood-fired boilers and wood saunas.

The Oregon state House of Representatives recently passed HB 3068 which creates a one-year study advisory group for stove change-outs and education dealing with air quality. This study will include the consumer use of wood stoves and the effects of accelerating change-out efforts. 

The action was a result of Hillsboro, Oregon, in Washington county being close to exceeding PM2.5 emissions limits. Hillsboro includes massive computer chip manufacturer Intel, the state’s largest employer. “Being non-compliant on PM2.5 in Washington County could really mess up the state’s economy,” says OHPBA’s Harvey Gail.

The Heat Smart program may not be perfect, but it seems an economical and effective effort to rid Oregon of its estimated 80,000 to 100,000 non-EPA wood stoves and inserts. Given adequate enforcement, it will offer an example to other regions to put a dent in the estimated six million dirty woodburners in the U.S.

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