One step closer to permanent wood heat ban in California?

[ultrarunner]

My home came with a Catalyst equipped Buck Stove and required building permit...

I have no idea how many grams it puts out and average usage is twice a year except the one year when power was out for an extended period on several occasions... Oakland CA

Now in Olympia the power was out for over a week and daytime highs hit 17 F and every home kept the home fires burning just to keep from freezing and firewood was at a premium... just imagine if all those fireplaces and stoves had to be removed and another ice storm hit with 7 to 10 day power outages with zero degree weather...

Don't these bureaucrats have any sense?

This is not a ban on use... it is a the wholesale destruction of existing property.

The reason I mention it is because Thurston County Washington is also entertaining additional wood burning restrictions... as California goes... so goes the nation... eventually.

 

[dave1949]

Not very.

I installed a QuadraFire 4300 step top last year that is EPA certified at 1.1 gm/hr and doesn't use a catalytic converter. Cost a lot more than $2500, but it'll last me the rest of my life...:thumbsup:

So how much wood did you end up burning this season? I remember a thread last year about your firewood supply and storage.

 

[SPIKER]

Anyone else remember back 15+ years ago when EPA was making moves on many other items such as NOX on cars. That requires the car to burn MORE fuel (supposedly cleaner>?) my late 80s cars got 35 to 45MPG now they are just barely back to that MPG because of the added fuel burn needed for the compliance. They went after other things and wood burning industry was mentioned about 10 years ago. Everyone said it will NEVER HAPPEN as EPA and Wood Burning people will be told where to go. Now the EPA has mandated it just as warned 10 years ago. The next is BBQ grills, everyone saying NEVER HAPPEN yep just like everyone said about wood stoves...

 

[3930dave]

Anyone else remember back 15+ years ago when EPA was making moves on many other items such as NOX on cars. That requires the car to burn MORE fuel (supposedly cleaner>?) my late 80s cars got 35 to 45MPG now they are just barely back to that MPG because of the added fuel burn needed for the compliance. They went after other things and wood burning industry was mentioned about 10 years ago. Everyone said it will NEVER HAPPEN as EPA and Wood Burning people will be told where to go. Now the EPA has mandated it just as warned 10 years ago. The next is BBQ grills, everyone saying NEVER HAPPEN yep just like everyone said about wood stoves...

Same thing happened w. diesel mpg.

I'm only partly joking when I refer to them as the Extra Profit Always folks.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm very much a live and let live person...

There is something fundamentally wrong when ex post facto laws are enacted...

If I am prevented from selling my bought and paid for home simply because it has an existing chimney suitable for wood... all I can say is ownership is just an illusion.

When I bought my service truck the law was 25 years and newer require emission testing for registration renewal... then the politicians moved the goal post to 30 years and newer saying this one tweek was necessary... I also attended the hearings in Sacramento so heard it with my own ears. My Service Truck is 1985 so it is now 30 years old.

It wasn't all that long after and it was changed again to 1976 and newer... so my two 1976 vehicles just sit because it takes too much time to deal with the emission testing on a car that is rarely driven... in other words old gas will cause a fail condition... not to mention DMV fees have more than doubled plus insurance, etc...

Now if both these cars happened to be 1975 models they would be worth double simply because of being emission exempt.

 

[3930dave]

Outlines the dynamic at play - activists using sue+settle to ram through the legislation they want.

EPA's Wood-Burning Stove Ban Deals Blow to Rural Homes

Debatable who is using who as a stalking horse.

Valid science I will listen to. Holy wars, not so much.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^ Thank you...

The term Sue and Settle is what I was trying to say and failed to do.

I've seen it happen in my city repeatedly... the consent decrees are used to deflect responsibility because it is a simple and convenient way to say it's not us... we were sued and settled and as a result a policy, regulation or enforcement begins because we "Have to"

Somewhere the puppet masters must be having a good time...

 

[PILOON]

I can add 'Fuel to the Fire'. (Pun intended)

My son is a research scientist in forestry and environmental issues.
He has published or contributed various papers on the subject.

He has proven that forest fires contributed more to the control of Spruce Budworm than a aerial spraying programs. Nature's own self control!

 

[Creamer]

Even in our rural area there is a ban on outside boilers within a 2 mile radius of the town limits. A complete ban is something to be concerned about. I try to talk to many of those people who have their wood stored with no cover on it and you see the boilers smoking. If they do not abuse the freedom it will be better for all of us.

Keeping wood covered and dry is very easy. I know a guy who set up a "portable corral" - 6 of the standalone panels - in a rectangle and pulled a tarp over it tied down to the panels. It keeps the rain and snow off yet lets air in from the side and cost him less than $500 to build. It is a lot easier for him to control the boiler since he has more consistent wood and he burns less wood because it burns so much better. It just makes sense all-around.

thanks Ultrarunner for starting this thread. Great discussion!

 

[3930dave]

^^^ Thank you...

The term Sue and Settle is what I was trying to say and failed to do.

I've seen it happen in my city repeatedly... the consent decrees are used to deflect responsibility because it is a simple and convenient way to say it's not us... we were sued and settled and as a result a policy, regulation or enforcement begins because we "Have to"

Somewhere the puppet masters must be having a good time...

You're welcome ur.

A friend of mine has lived in BC (our version of LaLaLand) for a long time. His term for them is eco-terrorist. Well Said, IMO. What really gets me is the hypocrisy of that particular Province and State.

If locales have a knee-jerk reaction to Sue/Settle, then perhaps it is time for wood-burners to launch a class action ? Lawsuits get launched for much weaker reasons than Actions that Directly cause Financial Hardship. Any college science/eng. grad could easily justify and totalize the huge $$$$ impact of imposing a wood ban in a given area.

Even if you don't like wearing tinfoil hats, it's worth pondering what is going on a larger scale. That article I linked indicated a significant jump in wood use, spanning a recent decade. Not that hard to imagine, given the upswing in utility costs and the decline in the US economy over the same period.

Major players (including govt.) have a strong interest in seeing those utility costs not being bypassed by the consumer. Green-cloaking is one way to socially engineer this.

Anybody know a hotshot wood-burning lawyer ?

Rgds, D.