washington — changes to the environmental protection agency’s renewable fuel standard program could lead to wide-ranging economic impacts like increased gas prices and shutdowns of small refineries, experts told lawmakers during a senate environment and public works committee hearing on wednesday.

“if we proceed with a(n) (epa) mandate, we prohibit innovation and alternatives to come forward,” said lucian pugliaresi, president of the energy policy research foundation. “everyone who wants to proceed with these exotic fuels of the future should keep in mind that i don’t believe that the american people will react very positively if we go into a period of sustained, high gasoline prices.”

lawmakers heard from several stakeholders, including members of the biofuel industry and a lawyer who represents small oil refineries, about their experiences with the epa’s rfs program. the rfs, first established in 2005, sets guidelines for the amount of biofuels required to be blended with fossil fuels each year. the epa recently announced new volume requirements for 2020, 2021 and 2022 in december. 

wednesday’s hearing marked the first time since 2016 that the committee re-examined the program — a gap that “speaks to the intricacies of the program,” according to ranking member shelley moore capito, r-w.va.

“the potential fault lines between opponents, supporters and would-be reformers don’t always align between one party or another,” capito said. 

both experts and lawmakers expressed concern about how epa policies might impact fuel costs, particularly in light of american prices hitting their highest level in eight years. emily skor, ceo of growth energy, said challenges toward epa policies have been one cause of higher fuel prices. the d.c. circuit court of appeals’ july 2021 decision to vacate the epa’s policy of year-round sale of e15, a gasoline mixed with ethanol, has been impactful as well, skor said.

“undermining the rfs and delaying the rollout of e15 means increasing gas prices for american consumers,” skor said. “gas prices are driven by the price of crude — not the cost of the rfs.”

pugliaresi disagreed with skor’s interpretation. while crude oil costs are contributing to overall higher fuel prices, he pointed to an analysis indicating that the epa’s rfs policies contribute an additional 30 cents per gallon to gas prices. 

on feb. 7, democratic members of the house biofuels caucus wrote to epa administrator michael regan in support of the updated rfs guidelines proposed in december, including the new volume targets and denial of economic hardship relief for 65 small refineries. 

during wednesday’s hearing, however, senate republicans said they were concerned about these changes, particularly regarding the refineries. 

“this unprecedented and drastic step to propose a blanket denial of outstanding small refinery hardship petitions is especially puzzling as we see increasing gas prices and several small refinery closures around the nation, eliminating good-paying jobs in some of our rural communities as well,” capito said.

some panelists said one solution could be allowing several types of biofuel to compete on the open market, giving consumers a greater number of choices. pugliaresi called for both greater market competition and greater research into biofuels with “substantial long-term public benefits.”

skor echoed pugliaresi’s calls for consumer choice, saying she was disappointed with the d.c. circuit court of appeals’ july 2021 decision, which will pull e15 fuel off the market in june and leave buyers with less options.

“consumers do need choices,” skor said. “they need options at the pump… when it comes to competition, as we all pursue lower-carbon intense energy, that’s very important. and critical to that is making sure that the modeling, the incentives, the performance standards are technology-neutral. in this country, let the best win, right?”

washington — environmental experts recommended, in an announcement on nov. 16, that the environmental protection agency allocate more resources on studying the health and environmental impacts of pfas chemicals and prioritize getting information from affected communities in its research on the substances.

in october 2021, the epa released a plan to address pfas contamination, which includes steps to fund research on the chemicals, restrict their presence in the environment and accelerate clean-up efforts. the agency’s office of research and development is developing research strategies to detect and measure pfas in the environment, according to the epa’s plan, but members of the board of scientific counselors federal advisory committee said tuesday it needs to expand its studies.

these “forever chemicals” do not break down in the environment and have been used in many products since the 1940s, including nonstick pans, water resistant coats, food packaging and firefighting foam. according to the centers for disease control and prevention, the chemicals have found their way into the bloodstream of 97% of americans due to their widespread use and durability.

human exposure to the chemicals has been linked to cancer, increased cholesterol levels and other adverse health effects. despite this, they are not considered hazardous substances by the federal government and continue to be used in consumer and industrial products.

there is no federal standard for pfas toxicity levels in the air and water because of lack of research on the chemicals, according to the epa.

radhika fox, assistant administrator of the epa’s office of water, said at a house committee hearing last month that the agency intends to propose a national water drinking standard by next fall and designate certain pfas as hazardous substances by summer 2023.

james stevens, member of the board of scientific counselors executive committee, said at a bosc committee meeting tuesday that the agency needs to ensure its approach prioritizes how exposure to the chemicals impacts the everyday lives of people across the country. stevens said looking at “real-world” exposure data can inform the agency on what compounds are most affecting people, especially residents of communities that have been disproportionately hurt by pfas chemicals and other environmental harms.

human impact data will help states, tribes and local communities to create regulatory policies on the chemicals and methods to protect public health, stevens said.

collecting that data comes in part from talking to the communities exposed to pfas, said monica schoch-spana, member of the bosc homeland security subcommittee. she said the agency needs to do a better job of supporting its scientists and regional offices in their community engagement efforts and create a framework in which communities can share their experiences and findings.

“the importance of both gaining from the benefits of local knowledge and also gaining benefits of having community trust and faith in the research that is transpiring was a critically important thing for the pfas research enterprise,” schoch-spana said.

the committee came to a consensus that the epa also needs to put more focus in its research on the environmental impacts of pfas, which have contaminated water sources, soil and air across the country.

there were few mentions of ecotoxicology, which is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on the environment, in the documents the epa presented to the committee, according to lucinda johnson, vice chair of the board of scientific counselors executive committee. the research has failed to focus on ecosystem-level impacts, johnson said.

the committee will present its recommendations to the epa next month.

finding ways to regulate the sources of pfas can be difficult because of pushback from the industries that use the chemicals, said michael kleinman, member of the bosc air climate and energy subcommittee. banning the use of the chemicals altogether may not be helpful, he said.

“while these chemicals are extremely useful, there should be a set of best practices to mitigate any contamination after use,” kleinman said. “so not saying you have to not use them, but have practices in place to prevent environmental contamination after use.”

in our latest episode of planet forward, seen on pbs’s peril and promise and produced in association with asu’s global futures laboratory, an exclusive interview with regan, who said he will bring science back to the epa and into every decision — and made clear that environmental justice will be at the center of his mission.

environmental racism is a personal issue for tuskegee university student jayden graham-white, as well. she shares with us the issues that have defined the turkey creek community in gulfport, mississippi, where she grew up. the history of the area dates back to freed slaves and is a devastating example of how racism, climate change, and environmental justice collide.

speakers included new epa  administrator michael s. regan, nbc’s legendary broadcaster al roker, national geographic explorer and filmmaker john d. sutter, the mayor of phoenix — the hottest city in america — kate gallego, and gw’s own president thomas j. leblanc. student correspondents highlighted their work and we proudly announced the winners of the planet forward storyfest 2021 competition.

these interviews to come, shared here later this week.

in the meantime, read a summit summary in this story from gw today.

the recent government shutdown’s effect on climate research could have unfortunate consequences in the near future, according to climate scientists.

all but one of the 200 researchers at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration were furloughed for 35 days, which put at risk data sets that help federal, state, and local governments prepare for natural disasters and inform policymakers about climate risks.

during the shutdown, updates to climate and hurricane models were halted. researchers did not have access to their computers, even to work on projects with non-government partners. missing data could lead to incorrect projections on issues like clean water, air pollutants and the public health impacts of climate change, according to andrew rosenberg, the director of the center for science and democracy at the union of concerned scientists. he said the importance of government researchers’ work tends to be underestimated.

“people think ‘oh, they just start again in a couple of months. what difference does it make?’ but that’s not really how science works,” rosenberg said.

an environmental protection agency report on coastal conditions is delayed due to the shutdown and could be missing data that can only be collected during the winter. but that’s not the only concern.

“air pollutants change seasonally,” rosenberg said. “so if you’re not collecting seasonal data on pollutants then you may have a hole in the data series. that means our predictions of pollutants may degrade, which means our prediction of public health impacts may degrade.”

the epa also plays an important role in monitoring the emergence of diseases like the zika virus, including paying attention to environmental conditions in which diseases thrive and identifying new potential viruses. the shutdown could leave policymakers underprepared for any potential outbreaks, according to rosenberg.

“they are monitoring the environmental conditions that allow diseases to emerge,” rosenberg said, “they are monitoring new diseases that are coming on board, that are identified in conjunction with cdc and other organizations.”

the shutdown’s effect on climate change research also could affect u.s. leadership abroad on the issue, which already has been waning since president trump announced in 2017 he was pulling the u.s. out of the paris climate agreement.

at a recent hearing of the house committee on science, space and technology, chairwoman eddie bernice johnson questioned climate change researchers about the effects the shutdown had on the epa’s research.

dr. robert kopp, a climate science professor from rutgers university, said members of the epa were unable to attend international meetings on climate research, even remotely, which made the u.s. seem unreliable.

“if we are an unreliable partner in international collaborations that does make it harder for us to be a leader,” kopp said.

dr. jennifer francis, a scientist at the woods hole research center in massachusetts, cited similar concerns.

“there were several major scientific conferences that occurred during the shutdown and a large number of government employees were unable to attend and present the research that they had been working on for literally years,” francis said.

according to francis, there were also delays at the epa for processing proposals for new research, which will “delay the progress of science.”

“everything you’ve heard about climate change is driven by data and those data need to be collected,” said kristie ebi, a climate science professor at the university of washington. “you can’t make up data. you can’t go back and regenerate what you didn’t collect.”

according to the oklahoma office of the attorney general, pruitt “​was a leading advocate against the epa’s activist agenda​” and filed multiple lawsuits against the agency. once at the helm of the epa, pruitt’s reign was overshadowed by questionable spending practices, and accusations of federal ethics violations as well as inappropriate professional behavior, as reported by numerous media outlets. oh, and he rolled back several energy and environmental regulations, too.

pruitt’s actions culminated in a whopping ​13 federal investigations​ after only 17 months as administrator. he resigned in july 2018, citing the “​sizable toll​” of the “​unrelenting attacks​” on him and his family from the media and environmental advocates as reason for his departure, according to pbs news hour’s joey mendolia and daniel bush.

in pruitt’s absence, former epa deputy administrator andrew wheeler, has stepped in as acting administrator. while pruitt made headlines nearly every week, wheeler’s tenure has been noticeably quiet. however, wheeler is continuing to deregulate the epa and rolling back once strong environmental policies more quietly — and effectively — than his predecessor. his role as acting administrator begs a few questions:

1. who is andrew wheeler?

according to his epa biography, andrew wheeler was born in hamilton, ohio, in 1964. he became an eagle scout in high school, and ​received his undergraduate degree​ in english and biology from case western reserve university. wheeler continued his education at george mason university where he ​received his mba​, and then ​earned his law degree​ from washington university in st. louis.

2. how did wheeler end up in the epa?

this is actually ​not the first time​ wheeler has worked for the epa. wheeler worked as a special assistant in the epa’s pollution prevention and toxics office during the george w. bush administration. he joined pruitt’s team as deputy director in 2017 when pruitt was appointed administrator.

after pruitt’s resignation, however, wheeler expressed ​disinterest in the administrator position. in an interview with the washington examiner, wheeler indicated “he had no interest in taking over his boss’s job. ‘i could have put my hat in the ring for administrator. i was not interested in that. i am still not interested in that,’ he said.”

3. what was he up to before working for the epa?

wheeler has been working in washington for more than 20 years​, primarily advocating for the interests of the fossil fuel industry. wheeler was the former chief of staff to oklahoma sen. james inhofe. inhofe is considered washington’s ​most prominent climate change denier​ (remember the guy who threw the snowball on the senate floor? ​yeah, that’s inhofe), with wheeler’s opinions of the environment and climate change closely mirroring that of his former boss’.

wheeler has ​worked as a lobbyist​ for multiple natural resource corporations including some of the united states’ largest chemical, coal, and uranium companies. he lobbied for energy fuels inc., the primary uranium company that ​supported the shrinking of bears ears national monument in utah.​ according to the center for responsive politics, the coal-mining company, murray energy, ​paid wheeler’s consulting firm, faegre baker daniels consulting, ​over $300,000 per year from 2009 through 2017.

in 2010, wheeler denounced the science presented by the scientists of the united nations’ international panel on climate change, claiming the ipcc “has functioned more as a political body than a scientific body.”

4. why haven’t i heard too much about wheeler?

wheeler purposely avoids the spotlight, and prefers to do his work legally, yet behind closed doors. ​according to a report from the new york times​, “mr. wheeler … avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules … ​his career was built around quietly and incrementally advancing the interests of the fossil-fuel industry, chiefly by weakening or delaying federal regulations.”

5. what is he going to do to the epa, and to the environment?

“(wheeler) knows much more about managing the agency and the technical side of the environmental statutes that epa is charged with enforcing than pruitt,” said myron ebell, head of the epa transition team, in an interview with the guardian. “undoing (barack) obama’s regulatory onslaught at epa is a key part of the president’s economic revival agenda, and therefore wheeler will be a point man for trump just as pruitt was.”

wheeler is going to push president trump’s environmental agenda forward quickly and effectively. he will do so by staying within the boundaries of law and ethics, pursuing coal and chemical industry interests, and staying out of the limelight.​ ​wheeler knows washington, d.c., knows how environmental legislation and law work, and avoids the spotlight.

6. as a fan of a healthy environment, is there anything i can do?

wheeler is competent and efficient. from working for climate change deniers and lobbying for mining companies and fossil fuel industries, he is a quiet, experienced, and formidable foe of the environment’s wellbeing.

however, a keyword in wheeler’s job title is “​acting​.” president trump still needs to officially nominate a new agency chief — one who must then be approved and confirmed by a senate majority vote. this is a process that could take months, and well past november, after the midterm elections.

washington — a house appropriations subcommittee grilled u.s. environmental protection agency administrator scott pruitt thursday afternoon on his deregulation agenda and spending habits.

even though pruitt is under fire amid a number of ethics scandals — including a $43,000 soundproof booth for his office, his below-market capitol hill condo rental from an energy lobbyist’s wife, and his reported retaliations against agency staff — democratic lawmakers mostly voiced concerns about what they see as the administrator’s gutting of environmental protections policies.

pruitt has announced a rollback to obama-era fuel economy standards and a proposal to repeal the clean power plan, which limits power plants’ carbon emissions. democratic lawmakers argued that would threaten public health.

“rolling back regulations that limit emissions will mean more cases of asthma in children,” said rep. betty mccollum, d-minn., the subcommittee ranking member. “that’s a fact. your approach is bad for the environment, bad for public health and bad for business.”

rep. chellie pingree, d-maine, also said her constituents experience high rates of asthma due to air pollution.

“we’re at the end of the tailpipe when it comes to the clean power plan,” pingree said. “we have ‘red alert’ days. and i have no idea why would you want to rollback limits on fuel emissions.”

but pruitt stood firm in the face of the criticism, telling lawmakers his vow to cut fuel economy standards came after a review of the previous administration’s standards, which he said were based on assumptions of market conditions that haven’t come true.

“what we don’t want to see happen is we set the standards so high that manufacturers manufacture cars that people don’t purchase,” pruitt said. “what happens is, people will stay in older vehicles, which actually increases emissions.”

the interior, environment, and related agencies subcommittee is made up of seven republicans and four democrats and is chaired by rep. ken calvert, a republican from california. the two-hour hearing also focused on the epa budget, which president trump wants to cut by 30%.

“we will not support president trump’s budget or your efforts to cripple the epa with draconian cuts,” rep. mccollum said.

pruitt defended the trump administration budget, saying the agency is “stripping burdensome costs” and making “transformational change.”

republicans used their time to stand up for pruitt and his actions as epa administrator. rep. evan jenkins, r-w.va., says his state’s coal economy has greatly improved since pruitt took over last year.

“your agency is restoring hope to the people of west virginia,” jenkins said. “what a difference, candidly, an election makes. i appreciate the good work of this administration getting us back in business.”

pruitt’s job security in trump’s fluid administration has been in question recently, amid his mounting ethics scandals. but pruitt has relentlessly implemented trump’s campaign deregulation promises, and the president continues to defend pruitt at least publicly. but democrats at the hearing questioned whether he’s fit for the job.

toward the end of the hearing, mccollum, the highest-ranking democrat on the panel, looked straight at pruitt and, speaking slowly, told the embattled administrator: “mr. pruitt, i think it’s time for you to resign.”

citizens of tower, a great many of whom descend from finnish and scandinavian settlers, are always prepared for the cold. chimneys stretch from almost every home, and on an average day in february, thin wisps of lightly colored exhaust stream from many of the stacks, a signal they’re burning natural gas or propane in the below-freezing cold. billowing smoke from burnt wood is a rare site, but a few chimneys are smoking. to save on utility bills, more will light-up as the cold sets in; diffusing clouds of micropollutants across the landscape, and inevitably, into neighbor’s noses.

at the edge of town, a 3rd generation finnish stove and furnace maker, daryl lamppa, often shovels snow off the top of lamppa manufacturing inc. when he does, he puts his head over his own wood-burning chimney and unflinchingly breathes in.

“just as a joke, you know? just cause it’s so clean,” the business-graduate-turned-engineer says.

he’s breathing in pollution – a mix of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and microparticles known to worsen and cause respiratory issues. but from a regulatory point of view, it’s the future of wood smoke – white water vapor and exhaust with so few particulates that it’s nearly indistinguishable from the modest wisps emitted by oil, propane or natural gas-fired heating devices.

the exhaust shoots up the chimney from the wood-burning kuuma vapor-fire 100, designed by lamppa and his father. it’s a furnace; a type of wood-heating device built to duct hot air to heat a whole home, usually from a basement. as of press time, it’s the only furnace to burn wood that’s been cut and then aged for a year, called “cord wood,” that the environmental protection agency (epa) has certified as clean enough to be sold after 2020. several other wood heating appliances that boil water to warm whole homes, called boilers, are also approved.

the epa under president obama’s administration enacted standards for residential wood-heating technology in 2015 that prohibit selling furnaces powerful enough to heat a whole house if they emit more than .95 pounds of particulate matter per million btus. the rule has caused three of lamppa’s local competitors to take down their websites and close, rather than pay steep fines for each non-compliant device sold.

by 2020, phase two is scheduled to take effect and will require furnace manufacturers to lower their emissions 84% more. on april 16, the epa filed a legal brief saying they intend on revising the 2020 emissions rules this spring, likely granting the industry three extra years to design compliant appliances and other forms of relief. the house already passed legislation in march directing the epa to extend the deadline, though the senate so far hasn’t.

while lamppa thinks the 2020 rule is fair and that he had ample time to refine his 30-year-old design to be epa compliant since epa first announced the standards in 2011, major u.s. furnace manufacturers that dwarf his company in sales have continually warned of an “economic disaster” for the industry.

paul williams of u.s. stove, a top selling furnace manufacturer, testified before the senate subcommittee on clean air and nuclear safety in november 2017.

“people trust us and our products enough to have a live fire in their home. we take that responsibility seriously. we test our products for safety and durability, not just for emissions. we need more time to accomplish the task at hand,” williams said in his testimony.

the lamppas wrote to the subcommittee a month later, saying their small business was able to meet the deadline years early and had to spend much of their family savings to do it.

“to change the rules mid-stream would be incredibly unfair to lamppa and any other companies that took the mandate and the timeline seriously,” they wrote.

“if we can do it, so can they,” lamppa added later. “when i look at these results, i think these companies are going to have to completely rethink how they burn wood, redesign their furnaces, and retest again. when 2020 hits, a lot of them won’t be ready.”

as epa moves to revise the 2020 emissions rules, it’s likely us stove and other major manufacturers will have until 2023 to clean up their wood-burning appliances.

dutch dresser, founding director of maine energy systems, sells another furnace that the epa has certified to be sold up until 2020. his austrian-designed and maine-assembled autopellet air furnace starts at $7,999. since the autopellet air uses low-moisture, pelletized wood, it has a natural emissions edge over furnaces that burn cord wood, as lamppa’s does.

despite the technical hurdle of having to lower efficiency to bake moisture out of cord-wood, lamppa was still able to pass all four stages of epa testing. dresser hasn’t put his device through the same testing because he doesn’t have to until 2020. for now, epa is accepting european test results that weigh particulates differently. 

“temporarily, the epa is recognizing the european testing as suitable demonstration of compliance. what i would like them to do is continue recognizing it as suitable beyond 2020 or 2023 if current legislation passes,” dresser says. 

a war against smoke

daryl lamppa wasn’t always interested in the family stove-making business. but when the gulf war was in full swing and fossil fuel prices skyrocketed, he saw a business opportunity. initially he set out not to make another heating stove, which are small and ill-equipped to heat a whole home consistently. rather, he chose to design a wood-burning furnace, which along with boilers, are built to heat whole homes.

he bought a furnace from a manufacturer in wisconsin to heat his new home, and swiftly took it offline after a dangerous chimney fire.

“i used to load that thing at night and sit down in the basement for hours on end, looking and worrying, and then after that happened, i said, ‘no more of this, boy,’” lamppa says. “when you’re sitting there chewing your fingernails every night, you can’t relax.”

in reverse engineering the furnace, he found the problem: smoke. it was only used for a short amount of time before the furnace lined his brand-new chimney with a flammable resin called creosote. the substance eventually ignited, though the fire didn’t escape the chimney, it just forced flames and ash out of the stack, blanketing the snow around his home with black soot.

the experience convinced lamppa to design a replacement furnace that would emit far less smoke. in 1982, he and his father filed a patent for their “kuuma” design, which touted what lamppa now calls gasification.

“the only way to get rid of the smoke is you have to burn all the (liquids and) gases. and that’s what we’re doing,” he says. “i haven’t had to clean my chimney in 30 years.”

smoke coming from a chimney represents wasted energy. in contrast to his now-shuttered competitors who opted to expel smoke as it was made, lamppa designs provide the right amount of air, temperature, and time to completely burn the energy contained in smoke while keeping the furnace at a constant 220-degree temperature. as the smoke burns, inhalable particulates settle into a bed of ashes inside the fire box.

what’s ultimately emitted is exhaust that carries the same co2 that would be generated by burning the same amount of wood in a bonfire, though the reaction releases far fewer carbon monoxide and inhalable particles.

lamppa says the fundamentals of his kuuma design haven’t changed much over the 30 years since he first started manufacturing them. like the sauna stoves he also makes, the wood burns in a finnish fashion – from front-to-back rather than from bottom-to-top.

in the late ‘80s as they started to sell their new furnaces, the lamppas and every other stove maker in the country were hit with a regulation: to bring the weight of particles emitted per hour by stoves down to 7 grams.  

at the time, only heating stove manufacturers had to clean up their emissions. the epa left wood furnaces and water boilers capable of warming whole homes alone, all the way up to 2015. the lamppas successfully cleaned up their line of stoves to avoid fines that caused 90 percent of stove manufacturers to go out of business, says john ackerly, president of the alliance for green heat.

furnaces and boilers were hit with new emission regulations for 2015 and 2020 along with stoves. since stoves went through it before, ackerly says almost all manufacturers that specialize in that technology are weathering the storm.

“this time around, in the stove side of things, nobody has gone out of business, and it’s not clear that anybody will. the boiler and furnace industry is different,” ackerly says. “you did have some mom and pop kind of shops that didn’t have any real capacity to improve much, so there have been a bunch of those that have gone out of business.”

while ackerly says he doesn’t like businesses shutting down, he argues it’s necessary. the rules were generated by the epa in part as a response to a lawsuit by states that wanted an emissions standard for whole-home wood-heating technology.

“if you’re having a big fire in your house to keep your house warm, there should be some safety and emissions regulations,” ackerly says.

“it’s one thing if you’re in the middle of nowhere and your boiler’s just cranking out smoke 24/7. but with a lot of these, if you’re in a valley, even the next farm or house is a mile away. these valleys have inversions and that still poses a pretty serious ambient air quality issue,” he adds.

regulations make wood heat more expensive

since the 2015 rule went into effect, water boilers have drastically risen in price. furnaces have too, but stove prices have remained fairly level. with the rise in prices, retailers are struggling to sell to the historic audience of wood heating – the rural middle class.

“i think the epa is going about cleaning up the air the wrong way, because they allow all the existing stock of wood burning appliances to exist. and they have driven the costs for new and cleaner equipment so high,” says scott nichols, a boiler retailer in new england for tarm biomass.

nichols doesn’t sell outdoor boilers, but rather an indoor variety of wood-fired water-heating boiler mostly manufactured in europe. he says emissions standards in america are stricter than in europe. he believes under the upcoming 2020 rule, retailers won’t be able to sell and install boilers that burn cord wood without a thermal storage component, which costs somewhere in the ballpark of $3,000. boilers that burn pellets, he says, don’t necessarily need the costly addition.

“i’ve got customers who have boilers that are 40 years old, hs tarm boilers that are 40 years old. and i couldn’t discount my new boiler packages enough for these people to switch in most cases to a newer boiler. and meanwhile i continue to sell parts,” nichols added.

states and non-profits have offered various buyback programs aimed at the oldest wood heat technology. in minnesota, the environmental initiative is wrapping up a program called “stove swap,” where they would discount a brand-new wood-heating device by hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars if a resident turned in a stove, furnace or boiler built before the early ‘90s.

according to the initiative’s website, swapping out such old technology can be the equivalent of removing 700 cars from the road per year, in terms of the particulates and carbon monoxide that’s prevented from reaching the atmosphere. likewise, towns across the wood-burning states, like tower, minnesota, have put bans on smoky outdoor boilers.

nichols says the epa regulations give states a standard to work with. communities can welcome boilers back in if they are epa certified, and air quality would remain safe.

“we’re in a very different market than we were 10 years ago when outdoor boilers were at the height of popularity and there were no regulations. at that time, outdoor boilers were nothing more than a barrel in the middle of a box full of water,” nichols says.

nichols says buyback programs help, but that they don’t come close to stopping a worrying trend: his residential customer base has shrunk, and so he’s expanded his offering for commercial customers and parts.

“you can imagine someone sort of spreading out over thin ice. the wider you go, the less likely you are to fall through the ice,” nichols says.

the regulations, he says, are hitting at a difficult time. fossil fuel prices have been relatively stable and low, which harms wood-heating sales.

“when oil goes up, we sell more boilers. when oil is cheap we don’t sell as many,” nichols says. he adds that the rise in price for wood heating is driving many to invest in heat pumps that store heat and pipe it back into a home gradually. the technology is inexpensive and subsidized, but in most cases, it can’t be used as the main central heating source of a home as boilers and furnaces are.

“we’re going to try to take market share from the smaller pie that’s left and hope that over time there are more policies that favor what it is we do,” he concludes.

furnace industry sues epa

when daryl lamppa became the first person to get on the epa’s list of furnaces approved to be sold after 2020, he likely made the job of lawyers of the industry group he chooses not to be a part of, the hearth, patio & barbecue association, a little harder.

hpba has publicly endorsed the less strict 2015 regulations as necessary, opposing a bill that would have repealed the rules wholesale. however, in a lawsuit hpba brought against the epa, the group contends it’s unreasonable to ask that furnace, boiler and stove manufacturers achieve stricter compliance by 2020.

“(but) we got proof that it’s possible to do it,” lamppa says, adding that the $5,000 pricetag of his kuuma furnace hasn’t changed much over the past 10 years as he’s made improvements.

even though building compliant devices can be done, hpba argues in public comments from 2014 that following through on the rules will cause prices to soar too much, driving potential customers to hold onto older and dirtier wood heaters.

“unregulated woodstoves are undoubtedly the largest contributor of national emissions, and the largest emission reductions necessarily must result from targeting them,” hpba writes.

public comments from hpba also point to several other arguments that may be taken to court. first however, both the epa and hpba need to submit finalized legal briefs, and since the epa is revising its rules, those finalized briefs aren’t due until the fall. depending on what changes are actually made to the epa rules, hpba may tailor its case to a few contentious issues, like the test method. if the case goes to court, ackerly says one possible outcome for hpba would be a settlement agreement that puts part of the standards on hold until another rule is made.

but for now, lamppa’s vendetta with smoke seems to be paying off. he’s fought smoke since before the epa even thought about regulating whole-home wood heat. his motivation has always been for safety – he says he won’t burn wood in his home “if there’s smoke … it’s just not safe to me.”

as the only manufacturer with a corner on the post-2020 furnace market, his focus on safety for now is putting him ahead of his furnace-manufacturing competitors. he’s just broken ground on a new track of land in tower for a whole new manufacturing facility. they’re jumping from one welding bay to four, anticipating high demand.

“we don’t feel safe anymore,” said maritza lopez, an east chicago, indiana, resident of 54 years. “our home is no longer a safe haven.”

to demand compensation for their losses and health risks, 38 east chicago households filed a lawsuit against atlantic richfield co., tesoro corp., e.i. dupont de nemours and co., the chemours co., and u.s. smelter and lead refinery on oct. 31.

this lawsuit alleges heightened health risks due to lead and arsenic for those in the city’s calumet sections. the residents also cited declining property values, emotional distress, and difficulty in selling their homes to leave the toxic neighborhood as reasons for taking legal action. the lawsuit, filed in u.s. district court, alleges that these corporations acted in “willful and wanton manner and in reckless indifference” while operating in the east chicago area. atlantic richfield co., and e.i. dupont de nemours and co., did not respond to phone calls when asked to comment.

this lawsuit is one of the latest episodes in a decadeslong environmental saga in east chicago where high lead and arsenic contamination have plagued residential areas since at least the 1980s. the area is a superfund site, the u.s. environmental protection agency’s term for sites contaminated with hazardous wastes. the uss lead superfund site – listed on the national priorities list of the worst contaminated sites in the country – covers the former shuttered uss lead facility along with 322 acres of residential land in east chicago.

on nov. 30, the epa announced a $22.6 million lead and arsenic cleanup at a former dupont facility adjacent to the uss lead superfund site. dupont is one of the responsible parties at the uss lead site because its hazardous wastes contaminated the adjacent land. 

‘my health issues were coming from this’

maritza lopez moved to east chicago when she was only six months old. she has personally experienced years of health problems, which she has begun to investigate in terms of the contaminants in her environment. when her neurologist ordered a heavy metals test and found high levels of lead, arsenic, and cadmium in her urine, lopez said she “just knew – you know how they say you have a sixth sense? – i knew that my health issues were coming from this, that there’s something in me.”

lopez lost her two brothers, sister, and father to various health issues, and her mother battled cancer twice. this is a major reason why she is so vocal in trying to uncover the possible health dangers that result from high levels of toxins, and in speaking out to warn others.

“i will not allow myself to be just as culpable as those companies or agencies. from federal down to city they have known about this and they have not stepped up to protect us,” she said.

currently, lopez is advocating for the u.s. epa to carry out widespread medical testing for people who both live in the community currently or used to reside in the area. she thinks that this may allow individuals to catch potentially life-threatening physical, neurological, and behavioral disorders and illnesses, such as kidney damage and reduced brain development, as early as possible. she emphasizes this as particularly important, considering that many east chicago residents and their families have lived in the contaminated area for their entire lives and are now worried about how this will impact their long-term health.

housing complex built at site of former lead plant

“in 2006, i had to have a complete hysterectomy at 29,” said akeeshea daniels, an east chicago resident of 41 years and co-chair of the east chicago community advisory group. “after having the hysterectomy, i began to lose bone mass and no one knew what was going on with me. that’s when my son started pre-k and i started noticing different things were wrong with him. he wasn’t retaining information. he didn’t know basic sight words. they did some form of testing and found out that he had adhd.”

residents in the west calumet neighborhood of east chicago have felt a multitude of negative effects from the contamination. the west calumet housing complex, built in 1972, housed more than 1,000 residents but is now empty and awaiting demolition. the housing complex was built on ground formerly occupied by a lead refinery and adjacent to a secondary lead smelter that operated until 1985. federal and state agencies began testing the housing complex site for contamination about two years later. they found high levels of lead and arsenic. yet, to the dismay of many residents, the epa did not formulate cleanup efforts for the site until it, as well as the surrounding east chicago area, was declared a superfund site in 2009.

“[the government has] known about this for 30-some odd years,” said jared jones, a northwestern university law student currently researching the superfund site. “it’s only been in the last, like, 15 months they’ve really been making a concerted effort to get it cleaned up.”

demolition, residential yard cleanup

in july 2016, mayor anthony copeland announced that residents needed to move out of the complex based on the epa’s reports of contamination, leaving thousands struggling to find new homes. on sept. 21, 2017, the u.s. department of housing and urban development said that it had approved the demolition of the lead- and arsenic-contaminated housing complex. while it may seem like a solution for other residents to leave homes in the contaminated area, this is not a feasible move for many east chicago residents.

“this is something that is so stressful,” lopez said. “we can’t pack up and move, we can’t afford that.”

the epa, with funding from atlantic richfield and dupont, expects to clean approximately 723 residential yards with lead levels of at least 400 parts per million of lead and 26 ppm of arsenic. as part of the cleanup, workers will remove two feet of contaminated soil and replace it with clean soil, including six inches of topsoil. workers will then put grass seed or lay sod on the topsoil and transport the contaminated soil to a licensed landfill for proper disposal.

residents, however, are concerned about the epa’s division of the yards to be cleaned.

“they’ll subdivide people’s lots into 4 parts and it may be that one quarter of your property needs to be cleaned up, but the part directly next to that doesn’t and the difference could be as little as 2 ppm and [that will] still keep it from being cleaned up,” jones said.

according to denise abdul-rahman, the environmental and climate justice chair for the indiana naacp, another concern that residents have expressed is about their treatment by officials when they come to test a family’s soil and water.

“they’re not given any type of respect,” abdul-rahman said. “that process is broken and culturally incompetent. no respect for the people that have been victimized or terrorized by environmental injustice. i think it’s the epitome of environmental racism,” abdul-rahman said.

a northwest indiana times article reported that an estimated 9,000 of 11,000 water service lines in east chicago contain lead, according to a service line inventory on file with the indiana department of environmental management.

in september, the city began replacing 400 lines at properties in the uss lead superfund site with lower levels of contaminated soil. until their services lines are replaced, residents of the superfund site have been given water filters. however, according to daniels, many of the residents have been using bottled water.

“we shower and we wash clothes. that’s it, we don’t do anything else with the water,” said daniels, who has been using bottled water since 2008.

residents are hoping to become more involved with the epa, the primary decision maker regarding the cleanup of the superfund site going forward. many residents currently don’t feel like they have any input into what’s happening at the site.

“we were told by the community [residents] that they felt they didn’t have access to city officials,” abdul-rahman said. “they still really don’t, except the city has a contracted attorney that does communication at the epa sessions that they have periodically for the community [meetings]. so they still feel, and it is reflected in those meetings, they don’t feel like they have access to the actual city decision-makers with the exception of the attorney.”

with the goal of becoming more involved in decision-making last year, a group of residents and advocacy organizations filed a motion to intervene in the case between the epa, as represented by the department of justice, and the companies responsible for the contamination at the calumet neighborhood. the court will hold a 2-hour oral argument on the motion on jan. 16.

catherine garypie, the associate region counsel for epa region 5 told the northwest indiana times in late october that the epa’s main concern with the motion is timing.

“our concern was that it was late” in the remediation process, garypie said. “that was our big issue.”

to continue voicing their concerns and hopes for the neighborhood in an organized manner, east chicago residents have formed an east chicago calumet coalition community advisory group. this cag group is represented by lawyers at northwestern university’s environmental advocacy center.

“the eac helps the cag by explaining the superfund process to residents, listening to resident concerns, and then working alongside community members to raise up their voices in interactions with government officials,” said debbie chizewer, the montgomery foundation environmental law fellow at the center.

in their saturday meetings, group members discuss community preferences for the site cleanup and remediation. along with the cag group, residents and the naacp have also created multiple events for lead health and healing to help residents who are having a difficult time with the superfund site cleanup.  

“we still have a lot of people who are recouping from things they lost. i didn’t realize all we left behind until it was time to move into our new places,” said daniels, who lived at the housing complex for over 13 years. “some of the things like dishes, forks. you didn’t realize that you left everything behind, so just maybe find a family and donate water or just a simple thing like a bath or face towel. these are things we had to leave behind because we were so scared to take anything with us.”