EPA boiler emission rules trigger N.C. queries
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, November 18, 2001
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON — All 12 House of Representatives members from North Carolina have signed a letter raising questions about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of boiler emissions, an issue of concern to wood furniture producers.
The American Furniture Manufacturers Assn. drew up the letter and presented it to the elected officials, winning the support of all seven Republicans and five Democrats in the North Carolina delegation.
At the heart of the issue, said Russell Batson, AFMA's vice president of government affairs, is whether EPA should treat the small boilers typically used in furniture factories the same as larger boilers when regulating emissions.
The letter, addressed to EPA Administrator Christine Whitman, said, "In the vast majority of cases, furniture manufacturers burn scrap wood to produce heat for drying hardwoods in kilns or for heating their facilities, creating steam for bending component wood pieces or generating electricity for plant operations."
If these boilers are regulated like larger ones, the letter said, factories will be forced to retrofit them. "Calculations using the EPA's control cost methodology indicate that the capital cost required to install this emissions control equipment would exceed $1 million per boiler."
The letter also mentions competition from imported furniture. "It's no secret that many manufacturers, when confronted with increased regulatory burdens, have chosen to shift a larger portion of their operations to foreign shores. We simply cannot allow that to happen to a vital home-state industry that has already experienced significant job flight."
Batson said the EPA had not responded to the letter.
As first reported in eDaily
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