EPA Proposed Standards for Wood Stoves Would Increase Heating Costs, Senators Say

摘要

Senators from Maine and South Dakota say the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to clean up the next generation of wood stoves and heaters would increase heating costs for consumers. Sens. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) told the EPA in comments submitted March 27 the proposed requirements would drive up the cost of heaters, which would discourage consumers from purchasing new versions and would keep old, dirty stoves in homes. "The proposed rule ... fails to fully consider practical, economic, and environmental realities and could end up impairing its own laudable objectives," Collins and King said in their comments. "Rather than reduce harmful emissions, the new standards would make it prohibitively expensive for many homeowners to purchase new, more efficient stoves."