House Democrats - Office of Majority Hannah Pingree
Majority Whip Sean Faircloth

LD 1551. “An Act to Establish a Seasonal Ban on the Operation of Outdoor Wood Boilers”

TESTIMONY OF REP. SHARON ANGLIN TREAT,
SPONSOR, LD 1551, “AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A SEASONAL BAN ON THE OPERATION OF OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS”
April 25, 2007
Natural Resources Committee
Senator Martin, Representative Koffman, and members of the Natural Resources Committee. I am Sharon Treat, and I live in Farmingdale and represent House District 79. I am testifying in support of LD 1551, “AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A SEASONAL BAN ON THE OPERATION OF OUTDOOR WOOD BOILERS.” This legislation is necessary because:

unregulated outdoor wood boilers (OWBs) can and do pose a current threat to public health and cause nuisance situations;
although indoor wood stoves must meet federal EPA guidelines, a loophole allows OWBs to operate without any oversight and without any limits on pollution levels, restrictions on materials burned, or installation standards;
the impacts from these boilers are greater in the summer months; and
currently, those affected have no recourse, no remedy, no one to go to for help.

UNREGULATED WOOD BOILERS POSE A HEALTH THREAT NOW. There have been complaints about OWBs in at least 28 Maine towns in the last 12 months. The average OWB emits 10 times the EPA particle pollution standard for wood stoves and 100 times what the most efficient wood stoves emit. This is not only a nuisance concern, but a very real public health threat. Maine already has one of the highest lung disease rates in the country and heart disease is our major killer; air pollution such as that emitted by OWBs is particularly dangerous for people with lung disease or heart disease.
A SEASONAL BAN FOR BOILERS IS ONE TOOL TO ADDRESS THIS HEALTH THREAT, AND THE HEIGHTENED PROBLEMS CAUSED IN THE SUMMER MONTHS. An emergency seasonal ban would provide immediate relief to people who are being impacted right now. There are additional impacts from these boilers in the summer months:

Many of the OWBs cycle on and off during the summer to heat hot water, and this increases air emissions. They typically are damped down when the hot water maximum temperature is reached until the unit calls for heat again. During the interim time many of these units smolder.
People are outside more in warm weather so the exposure is greater.
Houses are open more in warm weather so smoke can enter through screen doors and windows.
In many parts of the state we already have additional air pollutants in the summer months, including ozone and particulate matter; OWB pollution adds to this unhealthy mix.

While it is important to look ahead and establish future standards for these wood boilers, it is also important to address the health needs of people who are adversely affected by boiler emissions right now. The three bills before this committee offer different approaches to a very real and serious problem. While we must be sensitive to the fact that many people in Maine have already invested in these boilers, we also have to be sensitive to the impacts on their neighbors who receive no benefit from the boilers but suffer exposure to the pollution they cause.

Because we don’t have any mechanism for making and resolving complaints, or specific DEP enforcement authority, neighbors who suffer from boiler-caused pollution have no recourse. While a seasonal ban is not a long term solution – we need emission limits that are at least as strong as those for woodstoves and local and state authority to declare certain boilers to be nuisances and to require them to cease operation if necessary – we must take steps now to protect public health from existing polluting boilers. LD 1551 does this by focusing on the time of year when the problem is most acute.

I know this committee will weigh all of the concerns brought to you today, whether by the boiler owners or by their neighbors, and craft legislation that balances competing property rights, public health concerns, and the financial impacts of any regulation. This is not an easy issue to resolve. I am more than willing to work with you and I am open to folding the seasonal ban option into one of the other bills. My goal in bringing this bill forward is to make sure that whatever you do, you do not wait to address the concerns of those who are adversely affected now by existing boilers.

Thank you.