States to sue US EPA over certified wood stoves

Ten US states and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency are planning to sue the EPA over its wood stove certification program.

According to news coverage, “They allege that the EPA’s current standards aren’t good enough and that even if they were, the agency’s testing and certification program is so ineffective that it has failed to ensure those standards.”

This action follows an EPA Office of Inspector General report in February 2023 that found “the EPA’s ineffective residential wood heater program” did not protect the public from harmful wood stove emissions.

According to the notice sent to the EPA (PDF), “In sum, as currently implemented, EPA’s program allows continued sale of high-emitting wood heaters.”