Press Release  AG Campbell Announces Settlement Over Federal Wood Heater Emission Standards

BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced today that the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has entered a settlement agreement between the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the attorneys general from 10 states, including Massachusetts, along with the Puget Sound Air Agency. This settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by the states alleging that EPA failed to review and revise regulations that ensure emission standards for certain residential wood-burning stoves meet the requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act. 

The settlement requires EPA to revisit its existing wood heaters standards in order to reduce levels of harmful pollution emitted in Massachusetts and across the country. EPA must reassess how it tests wood heaters and propose new standards within a reasonable timeframe.

Residential wood heaters emit particulate matter into the air and have contributed to air pollution in Massachusetts, particularly in rural communities. Pollution from wood heaters can lead to significant harms including increased mortality, cardiovascular effects, and respiratory effects.

EPA is required under the Clean Air Act to set performance standards for new or modified sources of air pollution that endanger the public health or welfare. The law requires that EPA periodically review established standards to ensure they are meeting the goals of the Clean Air Act. The states’ complaint alleges that EPA did not timely review its existing standards, and that inaccuracies in the emissions test methods EPA authorized under those standards could be easily manipulated and thus conceal even higher emissions than the standards allowed. 

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has long advocated to reduce pollution from wood heaters in the Commonwealth, including suing EPA in 2013 to update new source performance standards for wood heater pollution. In addition to advocating at the federal level, the AGO also has collaborated with community partners to fund an air quality monitoring network in the Pioneer Valley, an area with historically high levels of air pollution. The AGO also launched an idling tip form to help communities understand the impacts of and report illegal idling, which also contributes to particulate matter pollution in Massachusetts neighborhoods.

AG Campbell is a co-plaintiff in this case alongside the attorneys general of New York, who led the coalition, and the Attorneys General of Alaska, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. 

This matter is being handled for Massachusetts by Deputy Chief Turner Smith of the AGO’s Energy and Environment Bureau and Assistant Attorney General Emily Mitchell Field of the Environmental Protection Division.

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