When you think of New Jersey, you don’t necessarily think of homes with wood burning stoves in them, but a large number of them are in use across the state. Many rural residents in New Jersey not only use their wood-burning stoves for nostalgia, they also use them as an alternative source to warm their homes in winter.
Now, the state is threatening to sue the EPA for not enforcing the “New Source Performance Standards” for wood-burning stoves.
Phil Murphy’s administration is joining other states including Maryland, New York and Massachusetts in a threat to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to timely review and revise the New Source Performance Standards (performance standards)for Residential Wood Heaters (wood heaters) under the Clean Air Act (the Act).
This new standard could lead to strict enforcement on wood burning stoves in the Garden State.
On March 16, 2015, EPA issued a final rule with two sets of updated performance standards for wood heaters.4 That rule had an effective date of May 15, 2015, on which the first set of updated standards went into effect.5 The second, more stringent set of the 2015 standards, with lower levels of particulate matter emissions, went into effect on May 15, 2020.
The state claims the EPA is not enforcing those standards and new heaters do not meet the regulations set forth in the 2015 ruling.
The EPA’s Office of Inspector General corroborated the study’s findings, determining that “EPA’s residential wood heater program does not provide reasonable assurance that wood heaters are properly tested and certified before reaching consumers.”
New Jersey says the issue is an environmental justice issue that is counter to environmental equity being touted by the Governor’s office.
If the EPA does not correct itself, New Jersey and other states plan to sue the federal government.