Rep. TOM CAMPBELL (R-Roy)
2nd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
Olympia office: 334 John L. O'Brien Building
PO Box 40600 Olympia, WA 98504-0600
Office: (360) 786-7912

 
For immediate release: March 14, 2007

Wood smoke emissions measure passes House

Olympia -- Environmental concerns brought on by smoke emissions from wood burning stoves will be under scrutiny after today's passage of House Bill 2261, which handily passed the House today by a 64 to 31 vote. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Tom Campbell, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Environmental Health. The bill now goes to the Senate.

In the past 25 years the number of wood stoves, fireplaces, pellet stoves, and fireplace inserts has grown rapidly in Washington. In fact, nearly half of Washington's households have wood burning that emit hundreds of times more pollution that other forms of heat, including natural gas, electricity or oil.

The wood smoke emissions bill establishes a work group to study the impacts of wood smoke from solid fuel burning devices and make recommendations to the Legislature on practical, cost-effective ways to reduce the public health threats from exposure to wood smoke. The work group, appointed by they director of the State Dept. of Ecology, would include representatives of the departments of Ecology and Health, regional air quality agencies, local health departments, related industrial representatives and nongovernmental health organizations. Their report would be concluded by the end of this year so the legislature can take it up next session.

"The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is going to decrease the acceptable level of  particulate matter, which now stands at 2.5," Campbell said. "It is imperative for our state consider how we can deal with this environmental problem before the feds mandate it for us."

"There are communities in the state that regularly exceed the particulate standard for air quality," he said. "This puts  together a work group to fix the problem with a state-local plan before the federal government steps in with a heavy hand from Washington, DC."

Campbell said the particulate level in many areas of the state now exceeds the 2.5 standard. "It's important to reduce the hazardous effects wood smoke has on the respiratory system of individuals, especially for children and for the elderly." We need to stay ahead of the problem to reduce the harmful health effects on our citizens."

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Contact: Rep. Tom Campbell at (360) 786-7912 or campbell.tom@leg.wa.gov