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Sunday, November 05, 2006

Ind. Law - More on: Communities seek to regulate outdoor wood-fired boilers

Adding to numerous earlier entries on outdoor wood-fired boilers or furnaces, inlcuding this partial ILB list, are two recent stories in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times. Laura Harvey Keagle wrote on Nov. 1:

PORTAGE | While there are not many outdoor wood-burning furnaces in the region, a group is scheduled to meet today to address how to regulate them.

"The expectation was that IDEM or the EPA would step in, but that didn't happen," said Porter County Surveyor Kevin Breitzke, who serves as chairman of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Council board. "Industry needs an impetus for change and that just may be government regulation."

A second story by Keagle, the next day, reported:
PORTAGE | Indiana is not going to regulate outdoor wood-burning furnaces until the U.S. EPA reveals recommendations in December, a state environmental official said Wednesday.

The Indiana Environmental Quality Service Council met Monday and discussed the federal plan, which is expected to be unveiled Dec. 15, said Sean Gorman, environmental manager for the rules development section of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Gorman said the EPA plan includes two phases: a model state ordinance recommending emissions standards and suggestions to manufacturers to create cleaner-operating products. * * *

IDEM requested public comments on a proposal for rules governing outdoor furnaces last year, but the state has yet to take any action.

Gorman's comments came during the first meeting of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission's subcommittee on outdoor wood-burning furnaces. The group is charged with drafting a sample ordinance aimed at regulating the devices for Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties and their municipalities.

Charlotte Read, of the Save the Dunes Council, is a member of NIRPC's subcommittee and said she was disappointed with the state's decision to wait for EPA action on the issue.

"They're passing the buck," Read said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 5, 2006 05:04 PM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana Law