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Friday, March 02, 2007

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

The ILB has had a slew of entries on the topic of regulating outdoor wood-fired boilers/furnaces. First there was outrage from a southern Indiana legislator when the Dept. of Environmental Management (IDEM) published a First Notice asking for public comments on the possibility of regulating the outdoor furnaces/boilers. IDEM was accused of "hiding" the notice in the Indiana Register. (Note that this was back when the serial, paginated, monthly Indiana Register was still availble online.) IDEM backtracked and has done nothing since.

In the face of public demand, local communities all over the state have since made efforts to regulate the outdoor furances/boilers on their own. You may follow much of the history in this list of ILB entries.

Here is another story today, this one from Lake County, reported in the NWI Times by Joyce Russell:

PORTAGE | A suggested ordinance to regulate outdoor furnaces didn't sit well with some members of the Northwestern Regional Planning Commission's Environmental Management Policy Committee or public Thursday morning.

A committee has been working for months on a proposal that would either regulate or ban the furnaces, which are growing in popularity across the country.

The furnaces, also known as outdoor wood heaters or boilers, are systems that burn wood to heat water that is piped underground to a nearby structure, resulting in heat for that structure.

The furnaces have been criticized as polluters and health hazards.

Kevin Breitzke, EMPC vice chair and chairman of the working group, told the EMPC Thursday that his committee had put together an ordinance that would regulate instead of ban outdoor furnaces. The ordinance would allow furnaces on land parcels 25 acres and larger, would require permits, would regulate what could be burned and would require an annual operating permit.

He suggested committee members take the proposal back to their communities for discussion before the EMPC's April 5 meeting.

Not everyone was pleased, however. "The town of Ogden Dunes is looking to ban them. We are looking for that language," said Susan Mihalo, an Ogden Dunes resident and member of Save the Dunes Council.

Charlotte Read, also of the Save the Dunes Council and a member of the EMPC, said she had hoped there would be more details on health effects. She said five or six jurisdictions in the state have banned them and had hoped additional alternative information would have been included.

James Donnelly, of LaPorte, said the ordinance "falls short." He criticized the proposal, saying there was no discussion on health issues along with several other concerns.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 2, 2007 08:23 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Law