The phone calls are coming in to Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI) once again from people whose neighbor’s have installed outdoor wood furnaces (OWFs) over the summer — and they are just now starting them up. People cannot believe that neighbors are allowed to smoke them out of their homes 24/7 – but that, in fact, is the case in CT and in many other states.
In 2005, the legislature passed siting rules that said outdoor wood furnaces installed beginning that July had to be 200 feet from a neighboring structure not being heated by the furnace. The top of the stack had to be higher than all the roof peaks within 500 feet, but couldn’t be higher than 55 feet.
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On Monday, the board of selectmen voted unanimously to pass an ordinance banning outdoor wood-burning furnaces, effective June 27, 2011.
Testifying before the General Assembly’s environment committee, Council on Environmental Quality Executive Director Karl Wagener said a “moratorium” should be enacted until the state Department of Environmental Protection issues updated regulations.
In response to a column by Nancy Alderman appearing in the Norwich Bulletin a reader writes: A policy allowing the furnaces with restriction is needed, with smoke-stack height and smoke guidelines outlined … Read more inside
EHHI has found that homes as far away as 850 feet from outdoor wood furnaces have wood smoke levels inside their homes way above the EPA standards. Read more inside.
A Bill that will ban outdoor wood furnaces will be a Committee Bill before the Environment Committee of the CT State Legislature this session. The Bill will exempt farmers and their farm houses from the proposed ban. Read more inside!
At a town meeting last night the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of Selectman for the town of Hamden recommended that there be a town-wide ban on outdoor wood furnaces. P&Z voted 5-2 in favor of the ban.
Governments in New Hartford, North Haven and Hamden are addressing the issue of outdoor woodburning furnaces in stories appearing in CT Environmental Headlines this morning.
