Thanks to the hard work of NWHPBA, HPBA, and all of you, the Washington Department of Ecology has requested that SB 5174, the woodstove bill, be withdrawn from consideration. We will monitor the bill closely until the end of the session to ensure 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 misleading articles circulating in Washington. Fortunately, the bill is no longer being considered 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 than the National standard. Ecology has never gotten around to updating it until now. However, since only stoves meeting the EPA standard can be sold, it’s much less significant than it appears. Another issue/concern was that DOE wanted to use SB 5174 to create its own “good” woodstove list.
Fortunately, the bill is not currently being considered, so these concerns are not an issue. However, we will continue to monitor the situation.
A special thank you to Senator Shelly Short of the 7th Legislative District (NE WA) for her tireless work on this issue and on behalf of the industry.
