Actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the last five years have made available almost $18 million for wood stove change-outs; that’s a result of federal Clean Air Act enforcement settlement agreements between the EPA and various industries. These most recent voluntary settlement agreements of violations of environmental regulations include areas in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, with funding amounts for wood stove change-outs ranging from $10,000 to $3.2 million. 

Almost half of the $18 million has been spent on completed or ongoing change-outs, according to the EPA.

“A change-out program can yield big reductions in harmful fine particulate pollution,” according to Larry Brockman, residential wood smoke team leader in the EPA’s office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. “For example, we estimate that the change-outs under the 2013 Wisconsin Power Service (WPS) project will reduce roughly 42 tons of PM2 a year.”  

According to the EPA, the $2 million WPS wood stove change-out program settlement agreement was implemented from May, 2014 to June, 2015, in 18 counties located in and around Green Bay and Wausau, Wisconsin. A total of 538 old technology wood-burning appliances were upgraded to cleaner-burning appliances, including EPA-certified wood stoves, gas and pellet stoves and EPA Phase 2 qualified outdoor hydronic heaters, the EPA reports. The WPS contracted with the American Lung Association to administer the project.

In another recent settlement agreement with Southern California Edison for its Four Corners power plant covering parts of Arizona and New Mexico, the EPA predicts the $3.2 million to be spent on change-out programs will improve indoor air quality in 750 Navajo homes.  

Wood stove change-out programs occasionally have been included in supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) or as mitigation projects, says the EPA. A SEP is an environmentally beneficial project or activity that is not required by law as part of a settlement agreement but that a defendant may agree to undertake as part of the settlement of an enforcement action.  

The EPA cannot compel a defendant to perform a SEP as part of that agreement, but for performance of a SEP, a defendant usually receives some reduction in a penalty.

According to the EPA, the primary purpose of its SEP policy is to encourage and obtain environmental and public health protection and benefits that may not otherwise have occurred in the settlement of an enforcement action. SEPs are developed, funded and implemented by the defendants, and implementation of a wood stove change-out SEP is the sole responsibility of the defendant. The defendant may choose to hire a contractor, consultant, other third party such as a non-profit like the American Lung Association (ALA) or a state organization to assist in development and completion of the SEP.   

In most cases when wood stove change-out programs are part of a settlement agreement, the local chapter of the ALA is selected by the defendant to administer the program. Since the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) is a trade organization, it is not a candidate to administer these programs, according to John Crouch, the HPBA’s director of Public Affairs. However, in most cases the local HPBA affiliate takes the lead to assist and consult with the local ALA on change-out programs.  

“The HPBA normally knows little about these change-out programs until the settlement agreement is signed,” says Crouch. He also points out that it often takes one to two years for a change-out program to be implemented after the settlement agreement has been signed.

“Most people don’t realize just how much money the EPA has brought to the table for wood stove change-out programs,” says Crouch.