January 14, 2011

Gina McCarthy

Assistant Administrator for Air & Radiation U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Mail Code: 6101A Washington, DC 20460

Dear Assistant Administrator McCarthy:

The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Manage ment (NESCAUM) urges you to expeditiously move forward with health protective revisions to th e New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for

residential wood heaters. Wood combustion is an im portant contributor to overall fine particulate mat ter (PM 2.5 ) inventories and represents one of the largest dir ect sources of PM 2.5 in many areas of the country. The science has clearly established causal associat ions between PM 2.5 exposures from wood smoke and adverse health outcomes, including aggravation of r espiratory conditions such as asthma, cardiac conditions such as heart disease, and premature mor tality.

With the trend toward increased use of renewable fu els such as wood, we must ensure that new residenti al wood heating units are as clean burning and efficie nt as possible. It has been more than 20 years sin ce EPA has reviewed this standard and since that time, internationally, significant improvements have bee n made in wood combustion technology. Unfortunately, the lack of a domestic regulatory driver to keep pace with technological improvements has limited th e introduction of cleaner and more efficient units in the United States. Moreover, there are fundamental issues with the current outdated NSPS, including t he broad spectrum of unregulated devices that are curr ently in or about to enter the market, that EPA mus t
address as it revises the residential wood heater N SPS. Many of these issues were detailed in NESCAUM’s August 20, 2010 letter to Mr. Gilbert Woo d at EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (see accompanying enclosure).

Recent ambient air quality data obtained from conti nuous PM monitors show increased localized PM levels from wood smoke that are higher than previou sly known. This information, combined with the disproportionate impact attributable to residential wood heaters, leads NESCAUM to urge EPA to adopt particulate matter emission standards at levels tha t are significantly lower than those found in the c urrent NSPS and voluntary wood heater programs. This will ensure public health protection given that these a re units located in a variety of urban, suburban, and rural residential settings. We also encourage EPA to propose carbon monoxide standards to ensure that th ese units burn cleanly and efficiently.

It is also imperative that EPA expand a revised NSP S regulation to apply to all residential wood heating devices, such as outdoor hydronic heaters (also kno wn as outdoor wood boilers), indoor wood and pellet furnaces, outdoor wood and pellet furnaces, pellet stoves, and fireplaces. History has shown that if left unregulated, the industry will design devices to av oid regulation such as has been the case with the a ir to fuel ratios and exempt devices in the current stand ard.

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Finally, we urge EPA to adopt tools that would enab le states to address units that do not operate at certification levels in the field, such as a visibl e smoke requirement limit based on EPA Test Method 22. The current NSPS requires only “model” certificatio n in a lab test. This leaves enforcement programs with no tools to address units that are operating i mproperly in the field. A visible smoke limit will ensure that units are designed and operated properly. The current regulation only re quires that units be designed to burn cleanly but leaves the door open for large variations in emission levels in the field due to l ack of proper operation, including the mis-use of fuels.

We strongly applaud EPA’s efforts to work with stat es on this critical sector and we look forward to proceeding with you to achieve robust and effective performance standards for this source category. W e hope that you will make this critical issue a prior ity for the agency, and ensure that a timely and he alth protective NSPS is promulgated for the full suite o f residential wood heating devices.

Respectfully,

Arthur Marin, Executive Director

NESCAUM

Enclosure: Aug. 20, 2010 letter to Mr. Gilbert Wood , EPA

cc: NESCAUM Board of Directors Dan Johnson, WESTAR Greg Green, OAQPS Chebryll Edwards, EPA OAQPS Gil Wood, EPA OAQPS Dave Conroy, US EPA Region 1 Bill Baker, US EPA Region 2August 20, 2010

Mr. Gilbert Wood USEPA/Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Mail Code: C404-05 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

RE: Revisions to Residential Wood Heater NSPS

Dear Mr. Wood:

The member states of NESCAUM strongly support a rev ision to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Residential Wood Heater New Source Performance Standard (NSPS). Wood combustion is an important contributor to fine part iculate matter in the Northeast, and science has clearly established causal associations between fin e particles and the aggravation of respiratory conditions such as asthma, cardiac conditions such as heart disease, and premature mortality. Recent

emissions inventories indicate residential wood com bustion represents 25 percent of primary fine particulate emissions in the Northeast.

Significant improvements have been made worldwide i n wood combustion technology since EPA’s current NSPS requirements were phased-in more than 20 years ago. The lack of a modern regulatory driver to keep pace with the technology improvement s has limited their introduction in the United

States.

There are significant additional issues with the ex isting out-dated standards, including the broad spectrum of unregulated device types currently in o r about to enter the market. Key issues that the

NESCAUM states would like addressed in a revision t o the NSPS are detailed in this letter, and include: (1) the types of units regulated under the NSPS; (2) pollutants covered under the standard; (3) fuel types; (4) test methods; (5) third party m ethods; (6) compliance assurance; (7) level of the NSPS; (8) the form of the NSPS; and (9) current inv entory of existing residential wood burning

devices.

We offer the following suggestions as a constructiv e contribution to a shared concern between EPA and the NESCAUM states. Ultimately, we believe tha t improving wood heater technologies to reduce emissions of pollutants and improve energy e fficiency will be good for human health, good for the environment, and good for promoting increas ed use of wood fuel and decreased use of nonrenewable and imported sources of energy.

1. Units Regulated under the NSPS The universe of devices regulated under the NSPS is of critical concern to the NESCAUM states. Currently, the regulation exempts broad categories of devices, including fireplaces, masonry heaters, pellet stoves, outdoor/indoor wood boilers, and out door/indoor wood furnaces. NESCAUM urges EPA to ensure that the NSPS rulemaking includes emi ssion standards for all residential wood burning devices. In addition, NESCAUM supports eff orts to eliminate source category loopholes,

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thus ensuring that all residential wood heating dev ices are required to meet an emission standard. Furthermore, NESCAUM strongly supports a rule that creates mechanisms to push innovation across devices types (i.e., technology transfer).

To this end, NESCAUM requests that EPA consider the following strategies:

• Move away from regulations based on definitions of device type;

• Develop emission standards based on heat delivered and feeding mechanism, such as those used in the European regulatory model (a suggested format is provided below in Table 1);

• Develop standards that incorporate all solid fuel d evices across source categories, without exemptions based on size. 1

Table 1. Proposed Regulatory Construct Delivered Heat (Btu output) Automatic feed Hand fee d
<8,000 Btu x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr
8,000-35,000 Btu x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr
35,001-120,000 Btu x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr
120,001 – 200,000 Btu x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr
>200,000 Btu x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr x lb/mmBtu heat output

No run to exceed y g/hr

Recommendations

• Regulate based on operating parameters rather than device definitions;

• Eliminate variation in emission standards for catal ytic and non-catalytic units

• Develop emission standards for the entire source ca tegory;

• Expand the NSPS for industrial, commercial, and ins titutional (ICI) boilers to cover all boilers, regardless of size.

2. Pollutants Covered Under the Standard Wood combustion emits a variety of pollutants of co ncern, many of which have been shown to produce acute and chronic biological effects. The abundance of fine particulates in wood smoke presents perhaps the most serious health risk. Wood smoke, however, also contains numerous other chemicals, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen and sulfur oxides (NOx and SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydro carbons (PAHs), chlorinated dioxins, and mercury. In Europe, emission standards for wood com bustion devices go beyond PM, requiring units to meet emission limits for CO, NOx, PM, VOCs, and combustion efficiency. Combining a multipollutant approach with a thermal combustion effici ency standard creates significant co-benefits,

1 For devices that nominally deliver no heat, such as fireplaces or other aesthetic devices, an appropriate alternative to establishing an NSPS based on heat delivered would be to es tablish a mass-based output limit, such as grams per hour. An input-based standard (e.g., fuel energy consumed over time) for these types of devices would be inappropriate.

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including reduced emissions, ensuring no trade-offs among pollutants (e.g., decreasing CO emissions to very low levels while increasing NOx emissions), and reduced fuel consumption. Therefore, NESCAUM recommends that EPA develop emission standa rds for residential wood heaters beyond particulate matter to include, at a minimum key, th e pollutants CO, VOCs, and PAHs.

Given the federal government’s recent actions to re duce pollutants that impact climate change, NESCAUM also strongly recommends the EPA develop em ission limits in this NSPS for both CO 2 - equivalent (CO 2 e) and black carbon. Black carbon can have a signi ficant atmospheric warming effect. It has been estimated that applying existi ng technologies could reduce black carbon by 50 percent, enough to offset the warming effects of on e to two decades of CO 2 emissions. 2 About 90 percent of black carbon emissions come from the con sumption of fossil fuels and the burning of wood and other biomass. Therefore, the NESCAUM sta tes strongly urge EPA to create CO 2 e and

black carbon emission standards in this revision of the NSPS.

Recommendations

• Establish standards as mass emissions per unit time for other criteria and air toxic pollutants to include CO, VOCs, and PAHs.

• Establish emission limits for CO 2 e and black carbon.

3. Fuel Types and Various Devices Today, there are a wide variety of devices that use solid fuels other than wood, such as coal, corn, and switchgrass. In order to ensure public health and environmental protection, EPA must require that all solid fuels used for residential heating m eet an emission standard. Doing so would provide a level playing field among the various devices and f uels. It is also critical that EPA develop regulations covering all devices regardless of type of fuel.

NESCAUM requests that EPA consider the following:

• Ensure that dual fuel units are fully tested for em issions from all possible fuels.

• Expand the regulatory list to include all solid fue ls, including coal.

• Develop fuel specifications for manufactured fuels, e.g., wood pellets.

Recommendations

• Expand the residential wood heater NSPS to include all solid fuels (including biomass, wood pellets, coal).

• Develop policies and guidance for testing dual fuel units.

• Develop fuel specifications for biomass fuels.

4. Test Methods Critical to ensuring clean burning units is the use of appropriate test methods that challenge a unit to perform at its best under a variety of conditions. While the current program uses a certification method in lieu of on-site stack testing to assure c ompliance, any test performed by the facility for

2 Wallack, J.S. and V Ramanathan. The Other Climate Changers: Why Black Carbon and Ozone A lso Matter

, Foreign Affairs, 88(5): 105-113 (2009).

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certification purposes must conform with the condit ions required under other NSPS rules. EPA’s own stack testing guidance states the following:

Facilities are responsible for ensuring compliance with the emission limits under all conditions. Therefore, any stack test that is cond ucted must demonstrate that a facility is capable of complying with the applicable standards at all times. As a result, a facility should

test under the most severe conditions that create t he highest emissions. For example, if operating at maximum capacity would result in the h ighest levels of emissions, the facility should conduct a stack test operating at maximum ca pacity or allowable/permitted capacity. In addition, the facility should use the highest em itting fuel for the pollutant tested or as otherwise justified, and should process material th at causes the highest emissions.

Therefore, test methods used for compliance under t his NSPS should meet the following criteria:

• Emission limits should be based on worst case, rath er than average, emissions.

• The test should simulate worst case conditions that the unit could be operated in the field without destroying the unit. This includes burn ra tes and fuel types.

• The fuel used should represent the most polluting f uel a homeowner could potentially use.

Recommendations

• The test must represent worst case emission scenari os, including burn rate and fuel type.

• The test should simulate all operations that are fe asible in the real world.

• The test should continue to measure total particula te matter.

• The test method should be standardized as much as p ossible across device types, using the same fuel, fuel configurations, and burn categories

.

5. Use of Third Party Test Methods The NESCAUM states recognize that EPA is under Exec utive Order to review and adopt, when appropriate, third party test methods. The NESCAUM states, however, have significant concerns with the wholesale adoption of these methods for se veral reasons. First and foremost, many state agencies have limited ability to participate in pro cesses developing these methods, due to either resource constraints or intellectual property polic ies of third party groups. Second, it is prudent public policy that any regulatory test method be sc rutinized and issued by the regulator, rather than allow the regulated community to develop the test m ethod unchecked.

Recommendation

• EPA should scrutinize any third party methods, revi ew the findings, and discuss with states, locals, and other potential regulators prior to mak ing recommendations on their potential use in the regulatory setting.

6. Compliance Assurance NESCAUM is aware that many industry stakeholders ar e interested in developing an alternative certification procedure for this NSPS. The NESCAUM states support the current EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) review and certification process, and would not support any significant changes or alternatives. I f the industry stakeholders have concerns with

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EPA’s current process, those concerns should be bro ught to EPA’s attention and addressed; they should not be the basis for eliminating the certifi cation process and moving to an unproven program for emission standards verification. EPA is requir ed to ensure compliance with its regulations.

Given the current economic situation and states’ re source constraints, such proven programs are needed now, more than ever. In addition, the NESCA UM states are deeply concerned about the lack of oversight and follow-up on testing of units as d efined in the current NSPS. Therefore, NESCAUM strongly urges that EPA provide additional resources and oversight for this program in

the future.

Recommendations

• Continue with the process of OECA review and approv al of certifications.

• Work with manufacturers to address concerns.

• Only allow third party processes for voluntary prog rams, and audit results to determine their

effectiveness.

• Incorporate electronic reporting and streamline eff orts for providing data to EPA to increase the efficiency of program oversight.

• Increase OECA’s oversight and audit efforts for thi s rule.

7. Determining the Levels of the Standards The NESCAUM states fully support EPA’s efforts to l ook at technology and emission levels throughout the world. NESCAUM encourages EPA to re view and determine Best Demonstrated Technology (BDT) levels in Europe, where lower emis sion standards have resulted in significant improvements in emissions performance.

8. Consistent and Protective Forms of the Standard s NESCAUM supports use of a common metric across the variety of devices that would be regulated under this program. A common standard metric, comb ined with a common test method, allows the consumer to compare emissions performance across di fferent units within a class as well as emissions between different types of devices. Furt hermore, the NESCAUM states support the use of a blended emission standard, such as the one curren tly used in the NSPS and the one used in EPA’s Phase 2 voluntary program for Outdoor Wood-fired Hy dronic Heaters. A blended standard that combines pollution generated by heat delivered alon g with the amount of pollution over a unit of time allows not only for a comparison of emissions based on heat delivered, but also, more importantly, the measured mass emitted over time. This can allow EPA to model emissions and develop standards that ensure that public exposures will be minimized regardless of the device type. Given that these units are placed in residential si tuations, and there may be multiple units in a loca l airshed, it is critical that EPA develop emission s tandards that ensure, at minimum, that the public will not be exposed to unhealthy air pollution leve ls. NESCAUM therefore recommends that EPA conduct a modeling assessment to ensure that a revi sed emission standard will not result in local exposures at levels above a National Ambient Air Qu ality Standard (NAAQS). Given recent movement towards incentives for energy efficient un its so that wood is not being wasted, the NESCAUM states also urge EPA to develop a standardi zed efficiency test method and a performance

level under a revised NSPS.

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Recommendations

• Use a common metric for emission standards across d evice types.

• Use a hybrid emission standard that incorporates po llution generated per unit of heat delivered and pollution generated over a period of time.

• Ensure that standards will not result in exposures above a NAAQS.

• Develop a standardized efficiency test within the r evised NSPS.

• Establish (separate) minimum performance standards for combustion efficiency and for heat delivery.

9. Current Inventory One the largest challenges faced by state agencies are the emissions from the current inventory of residential wood burning devices, which include unr egulated devices and pre-NSPS woodstoves. NESCAUM urges EPA to expand current change-out effo rts with respect to the size and scope of the targeted devices, such that change-out programs inc lude other residential wood burning devices with outmoded technologies.

If we can provide any additional information or hel p in any way, please contact myself or our lead staff person, Lisa Rector, at 802-899-5306.

Sincerely,

Arthur Marin, Executive Director

NESCAUM

cc: NESCAUM Directors