PORT TOWNSEND — A bill passed by the state Legislature restricting uncertified wood-burning stoves, inserts or fireplaces at least 20 years old in certain parts of Pierce County will have no effect on stoves in Jefferson and Clallam counties, according to a District 24 local legislator who co-sponsored the bill.
“We introduced this bill because the situation was best addressed through legislation,” said Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim.
“It was addressing the high particulate matter in parts of Pierce County, and there is no way it will get that high on the North Olympic Peninsula because we don’t have the population density,” Tharinger said.
The bill, SHB 2326, allows for a local air pollution control authority or the state Department of Ecology to call a Stage One burn ban at a lower threshold than the federal standard.
The bill specifically exempts residences for whom the stove, insert or fireplace is the sole source of heat.
The Clean Air Agency said soot and smoke from wood heat accounts for more than half of the total fine-particulate load in urban Pierce County during certain periods.
There was no opposition to the bill on its first reading, but prior to the Senate vote, legislators received many opposing emails, something that Tharinger characterized as “fear mongering.”
Sequim Democrat Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, who voted in favor of the bill, said in a statement: “There is absolutely zero threat of government coming into people’s homes and taking away their wood stoves, but without this bill passing, there are very serious health and economic threats for Pierce County, which is a major economic center for our state.”
The bill passed the House on Feb. 10 and the Senate — with amendments — on March 2.
The House concurred with the amendments March 5.
Among the amendments were two by Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, who, like Tharinger and Van De Wege, represent the 24th District, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
Hargrove’s amendments included specifying that the law would apply only to areas of non-attainment for fine particulates or areas at risk of non-attainment.
It also exempted a person with a shop or garage, which is detached from a main residence or business, that lacks an adequate heat source without burning wood.
The bill says enforcement could occur in those areas with fine-particulate values greater than 29 micrograms per cubic meter, based on monitoring data collected from 2008 through 2010.
The data collected during this time in Clallam and Jefferson counties are well below that level, according to Tharinger’s office, which listed Port Angeles at 17.9, Port Townsend at 16.1 and Neah Bay at 6.7.
Any stove manufactured after 1990 most likely has been approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and so would not be restricted under the new bill, said Terry McCartney, owner of Everwarm Hearth and Home in Port Angeles.
“The bill addresses the older stoves and the increased particulate matter they put out,” McCartney said.
While used stoves without EPA approval are available for purchase, it is illegal to install them, McCartney said.
EPA-certified stoves will never be restricted unless there is a Stage Two burn ban, something that has never occurred on the Olympic Peninsula, McCartney said.
Pete Church-Smith of Sequim, a member of Concerned Citizens of Clallam County — or CCCC — feels the bill intrudes on individual rights.
“[The bill] gives local authorities the power to ban most wood-burning devices in your home,” he wrote in a recent newsletter.
“One more camel’s nose under the tent!”
“This is incrementalism,” Church-Smith said. “They tell us they will never tell us we can’t use our wood stoves, but that’s not what the bill says.
“If they are never going to do that, why don’t they put that in the bill?”
Church-Smith said Tharinger and Van De Wege believe the bill will not interfere with locals, but he does not trust the Department of Ecology.
“The bill gives Ecology a loaded gun, and if you give the government power they tend to use it,” he said.
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor Leah Leach contributed to this report.
