Outdoor Wood-Fired Boilers, or OWBs, are causing severe problems for many communities. These devices emit large amounts of particulate matter, and municipalities nationwide struggle with how to best regulate them. On October 2, 2010, the PA DEP’s new OWB regulations came into effect. Click here to download GASP’s OWB fact sheet to give you a quick reference guide to the new law, or here to read the full text of the law. Click here to let GASP guide you through a webinar about wood smoke and the new OWB rules.
GASP believes these regulations are not strong enough to fully protect human health. Bear in mind that your own municipality can craft stronger laws than the state’s regulation. Some areas, like the state of Washington, have banned OWBs altogether. Please contact GASP for more information if you wish to pursue this in your municipality. Currently, GASP is working with the Allegheny County Board of Health to develop stronger regulations for Allegheny County. *UPDATE* Allegheny County has proposed regulations on OWBs that are more stringent than the state’s. A public hearing on this matter was held January 19, 2012, at the Allegheny County Health Department. Please click here for GASP’s comments, and check back to learn how the matter comes out. GASP answered questions for the radio program The Allegheny Front recently, while our Jamin Bogi conducted a visible emissions reading of an OWB that causing concerns for neighbors. Listen here.
Philip R.S. Johnson, a senior officer with the Heinz Endowments’ Environment Program, recently discussed here the limitations inherent in some traditional regulatory approaches to OWBs. And in October, 2010, right after the new state law came into effect, the Allegheny Front radio program did some good reporting on the topic. Listen to their piece here.
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