|
DRAFT
Thanks to the hard work of NWHPBA, HPBA and all of you, Washington Department of Ecology has requested that SB 5174, the woodstove bill, be withdrawn from consideration. We will continue to closely monitor the bill until the end of session to make sure it does not come back. In the meantime, we will engage in proactive conversations with the agency on changeouts in the Capital Budget and will continue these conversations after the session is over.
In recent weeks, leading up to the bill's withdrawal, there have been articles circulating in Washington that are misleading. Fortunately, the bill is no longer in consideration in this year's legislative session.
Concerns with SB 5174 were that it would have created a ‘new standard’ for new woodstoves sold in Washington State. Nothing could be further from the truth. The bill would have “simply” caught up Washington state standards to the current Federal Standards which have governed the sale of all new woodstoves since 2020, including all new stoves sold in Washington State.
Back in 1995, Washington adopted a standard for new woodstoves, which was, at the time, more stringent that the National standard, and Ecology has never gotten around to updating it, until now. But since only stoves meeting the EPA standard can be sold, it’s much less significant that it appears. Another issue/concern was that DOE wanted to use SB 5174 to create its own “good” woodstove list.
Fortunately, for now, the bill is out of consideration. So, we don't have these concerns. But we will be monitoring the situation.
A special thank you goes out to Senator Shelly Short of the 7th Legislative District (NE WA) for her tireless work on this issue and on behalf of the industry.
For more information contact Carolyn Logue, NWHPBA lobbyist Carolyn.logue@comcast.net
| 
