Obama regime bans wood-burning stoves. Wants you to rely on government for heat.
About 12.4 million homes have a wood-burning stove. About 2.4 million households use them as their primary source of heat. As Obama drives up oil and coal prices, demand for wood-burning stoves have increased. In fact, Obama’s aggressive war against coal and oil has prompted many Americans to buy wood-burning boilers and furnaces.
Now the Obama administration is banning the sale of 80% of wood-burning stoves, claiming they pollute the environment.
By banning wood-burning stoves, Obama will increase the price of coal and oil even more, by increasing demand.
The logic used by the Obama administration would imply that fireplaces pose an equal or greater danger, depending on the style of fireplace. Will the Obama regime ban the construction of new fireplaces next?
The Environmental Protection Agency recently imposed restrictions on wood-burning stoves that will deal a blow to rural Americans who rely on wood to heat their homes.
Critics charge that the rule changes were enacted following pressure from environmental groups.
The EPA tightened restrictions in January on the level of fine airborne particulate emissions that wood-burning stoves can emit, from 15 micrograms per cubic meter to a maximum of 12 micrograms.
The EPA restrictions would ban the production and sale of the kinds of wood-burning stoves that compose 80 percent of those currently in use in the United States, Forbes reported.
“Although this is an ancient technology, it can provide a solution for high heating costs in many parts of the country,” Laura Huggins, a research fellow for both the Hoover Institution and the Property and Environment Research Center, told Newsmax.
“With up to one-third of this country’s energy consumption used for heating, policymakers would be wise to consider the benefits of wood as a heat source,” Huggins said.
In the face of tightening economies and rising heating costs, more Americans have been turning to cheaper, archaic sources for heat, especially those in poorer areas.
The number of households heating with wood grew 34 percent from 2000 to 2010, with 2.4 million homes, or 2.1 percent of U.S. housing units, using wood as their primary heating source, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly 10 million additional homes use wood to supplement their primary heat source, the U.S. Energy Information Administration disclosed.
Huggins said environmentalists should cheer the use of this energy source.
“Fuel for wood heating is a renewable resource, and under the right circumstances can be local and sustainable,” Huggins said.