EPA To Alaskans In Sub-Zero Temps: Stop Burning Wood To Keep Warm

[mountaineer]

EPA To Alaskans In Sub-Zero Temps: Stop Burning Wood To Keep Warm
John Daniel Davidson
December 30, 2016
The Federalist

In Jack London’s famous short story, “To Build A Fire,” a man freezes to death because he underestimates the cold in America’s far north and cannot build a proper fire. The unnamed man—a chechaquo, what Alaska natives call newcomers—is accompanied by a wolf-dog that knows the danger of the cold and is wholly indifferent to the fate of the man. “This man did not know cold. Possibly, all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold 107 degrees below freezing point. But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge.”

If only the bureaucrats in Washington DC knew what the wolf-dog knew. But alas, now comes the federal government to tell the inhabitants of Alaska’s interior that, really, they should not be building fires to keep themselves warm during the winter. The New York Times reports the Environmental Protection Agency could soon declare the Alaskan cities of Fairbanks and North Pole, which have a combined population of about 100,000, in “serious” noncompliance of the Clean Air Act early next year.

Like most people in Alaska, the residents of those frozen cities are burning wood to keep themselves warm this winter. Smoke from wood-burning stoves increases small-particle pollution, which settles in low-lying areas and can be breathed in. The EPA thinks this is a big problem. Eight years ago, the agency ruled that wide swaths of the most densely populated parts of the region were in “non-attainment” of federal air quality standards.

That prompted state and local authorities to look for ways to cut down on pollution from wood-burning stoves, including the possibility of fining residents who burn wood. After all, a declaration of noncompliance from the EPA would have enormous economic implications for the region, like the loss of federal transportation funding.

The problem is, there’s no replacement for wood-burning stoves in Alaska’s interior.   ...

Replacing wood-burning stoves, especially in the state’s interior, isn’t easily done. Ever since the EPA’s ruling in 2008, local and state efforts to address air pollution caused by wood stoves hasn’t solved the problem. As the editors of the Fairbanks newspaper recently noted, “The borough faces two unpalatable alternatives: More stringent restrictions on home heating devices that could impact residents’ ability to heat their homes affordably, or choosing to stand pat and accept a host of costly economic sanctions and health effects to residents.”   ...  Read the entire article.

Marie Antoinette supposedly said, "Let them eat cake." The bureaucrats in the Obama Administration would say, "Just let them die."

[andy58-in-nh]

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun..." by the tyrants of the EPA.

[dfwgator]

I've got another use for wood other than burning it,  shoving it up the EPA's you-know-what.

[mountaineer]

I've got another use for wood other than burning it,  shoving it up the EPA's you-know-what.

Sounds a little, um, scratchy.   ^-^

[Idiot]

I'm thinking some of the EPA administrators need to spend a winter in Alaska.  That will change their tune.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Wood stoves are something I know a little bit about.


Make no bones about it, some stoves, like outside wood boilers, create a huge amount of pollution that causes problems for people (like people with asthma). Plus they tend to burn whatever people put in them, including green wood, which pollutes heavily.


"Pre-epa" stoves are fairly dirty and do create a lot of air pollution too... in populated areas. These stoves generally don't have a catalytic converter.


"EPA" and pellet stoves (which I have) are very clean burning stoves... and good for "carbon capture" (if you're into those things.


States could handle most of this thing without the EPA but in some areas regulating wood stoves is a necessary thing. There was an "air inversion" in PA (I think) that killed like 50 people:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Donora_smog

[Frank Cannon]

Wood stoves are something I know a little bit about.


Make no bones about it, some stoves, like outside wood boilers, create a huge amount of pollution that causes problems for people (like people with asthma). Plus they tend to burn whatever people put in them, including green wood, which pollutes heavily.


"Pre-epa" stoves are fairly dirty and do create a lot of air pollution too... in populated areas. These stoves generally don't have a catalytic converter.


"EPA" and pellet stoves (which I have) are very clean burning stoves... and good for "carbon capture" (if you're into those things.


States could handle most of this thing without the EPA but in some areas regulating wood stoves is a necessary thing. There was an "air inversion" in PA (I think) that killed like 50 people:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Donora_smog

DonOra was about a steel plant. Not a home fireplace. The govt has no gd business in how people heat their homes.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

DonOra was about a steel plant. Not a home fireplace. The govt has no gd business in how people heat their homes.

I was using that as an example, there are other times when these air inversion can cause nasty air pollution to build up. I'm as libertarian as the next guy, but air pollution doesn't respect property lines.

[Doug Loss]

I'm thinking some of the EPA administrators need to spend a winter in Alaska.  That will change their tune.

A winter without a wood-burning stove...

[Frank Cannon]

I was using that as an example, there are other times when these air inversion can cause nasty air pollution to build up. I'm as libertarian as the next guy, but air pollution doesn't respect property lines.

All you can cite me is an episode 70 years ago involving zinc processing to defend this outrageous EPA action against fireplaces. The only deaths that occur from fireplace use is a creosote fire from poorly maintained chimneys. With this sort of flimsy govt logic, the next to be banned are oil burners. We both live in the NE. You know how ineffective and expensive electric heat would be when it gets real cold? I have it as a backup and it is total shit.

Let me tell you what does get people sick. These new houses that are all EPA approved that are tight as a drum to be energy efficient. More people are getting sick because there is no introduction of fresh air into the house. People breath the same stale air and it is causing all sorts of respiratory issues.

[Wingnut]

Here is all you need to know Alaskonians.  If you are cold... burn an EPA adm or field agent to supplement your wood supply.  The ratio of 1 per cord of wood should work..

[GtHawk]

I've got another use for wood other than burning it,  shoving it up the EPA's you-know-what.

bathhouse barry has had the same use for wood for years, only he never restricted himself to the EPA.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

All you can cite me is an episode 70 years ago involving zinc processing to defend this outrageous EPA action against fireplaces. The only deaths that occur from fireplace use is a creosote fire from poorly maintained chimneys. With this sort of flimsy govt logic, the next to be banned are oil burners. We both live in the NE. You know how ineffective and expensive electric heat would be when it gets real cold? I have it as a backup and it is total shit.

Let me tell you what does get people sick. These new houses that are all EPA approved that are tight as a drum to be energy efficient. More people are getting sick because there is no introduction of fresh air into the house. People breath the same stale air and it is causing all sorts of respiratory issues.

Not in favor of this actually. I was just saying some wood stoves pollute.

[Chosen Daughter]

Look what Obama's nutty EPA is up to now.................................



EPA Moves To Fine Alaskans For Burning Wood To Keep Warm

Posted at 7:57 pm on December 31, 2016 by streiff


Sadly, this is not from The Onion. For satire to work it has to be believable and no one with commonsense would believe that the federal government would intervene to fine people living in Alaska for using wood-burning stoves in the winter. But the advantage that the federal government has is that it does stuff that is so profoundly stupid that no one would ever believe they would do it. And that is their greatest defense mechanism. Just like ‘Verbal’ Kint/Keyser Sose says in The Usual Suspects, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

-end excerpt.  Click on link to see what the EPA had to say

http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2016/12/31/epa-moves-fine-alaskans-burning-wood-keep-warm/

It seems Chicago needs to stay in Chicago.  The Obama administration is looking to fine the very people who use green energy.  Most cabins in Alaska are totally off the grid and are powered by solar, wind, hydro setups.  They are in the middle of nowhere.  Wood stoves are Alaska.  Alaska isn't Alaska without a great big wood stove in the middle of your cabin.

[Smokin Joe]

Of course Alaskans burn wood. Seal dung is too wet.

Ban the EPA. It has outlived its usefulness.

[Hondo69]

Calling the EPA a rogue agency is putting it in the nicest terms possible.

[Chosen Daughter]

Calling the EPA a rogue agency is putting it in the nicest terms possible.

Yeah you read a story like this and say to yourself these people are crazy.  People who live in places like North Pole are people who live out green lives.  Most of them do not drive.  They get around on snow mobiles.  Their roof is sheets of solar panels.  They grown their own food and live off the land.  Alaska is clean.   What is their problem?

[Free Vulcan]

The problem is they vote Republican, and didn't vote for Hillary.

[Wingnut]

Of course Alaskans burn wood. Seal dung is too wet.

Ban the EPA. It has outlived its usefulness.

Blasphemy!   With out the EPA we would be drinking poisoned water. They protect us from all evil environmental polluters and such.....

Said every liberal weinie and tree hugging hippie....

[roamer_1]

Yet they do nothing to circumvent nearly 250,000 acres burned down here in MT every year - Think about that, now - TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND ACRES A YEAR!!! And that's just Montana. what possible impact can a few wood stoves have by comparison?

[Smokin Joe]

Yet they do nothing to circumvent nearly 250,000 acres burned down here in MT every year - Think about that, now - TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND ACRES A YEAR!!! And that's just Montana. what possible impact can a few wood stoves have by comparison?

Just think how much of that carbon would have been sequestered in building materials if they had allowed even some of that timber to be logged and milled...

[Hondo69]

Here is all you need to know Alaskonians.  If you are cold... burn an EPA adm or field agent to supplement your wood supply.  The ratio of 1 per cord of wood should work..

I've had the best luck gutting them first, than hanging them upside down for a few days to cure.  Then you want to be sure to stack them feet first.

[Wingnut]

I've had the best luck gutting them first, than hanging them upside down for a few days to cure.  Then you want to be sure to stack them feet first.

A man who knows!   

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I've had the best luck gutting them first, than hanging them upside down for a few days to cure. 

That's mighty considerate of you.  I'd do it the other way around.

[libertybele]

I'm thinking some of the EPA administrators need to spend a winter in Alaska.  That will change their tune.

Well, I lived up in Alaska for several years in the late '70's ... unless things have changed, I don't think the EPA's directives are going to mean squat; lots of land up there with a lot of places to hide. Most Alaskans have been self reliant for quite some time and don't take kindly to people trying to infringe upon their way of life.  Somehow I just don't see the EPA successfully telling the 'bush people' that they can't burn wood. It's a matter of survival; keeping warm and preparing food.