HJR 11: Urging the United States Environmental Protection Agency to develop a woodstove certification program that addresses the threat to clean and healthy winter air in Fairbanks; and urging the state Department of Environmental Conservation to develop an economically and legally defensible state implementation plan for the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11 01 Urging the United States Environmental Protection Agency to develop a woodstove 02 certification program that addresses the threat to clean and healthy winter air in 03 Fairbanks; and urging the state Department of Environmental Conservation to develop 04 an economically and legally defensible state implementation plan for the Fairbanks 05 North Star Borough nonattainment area. 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS, in November 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency 08 designated part of the Fairbanks North Star Borough a nonattainment area for fine particle 09 pollution; and 10 WHEREAS, in May 2017, the United States Environmental Protection Agency 11 reclassified the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area from moderate to serious 12 for particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), which are fine inhalable particles with diameters that are 13 generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller; and 14 WHEREAS PM2.5 pollution is of serious concern and is harmful to the health of
01 vulnerable Alaskans subjected to it; and 02 WHEREAS, in the winter, PM2.5 concentrations in the Fairbanks North Star 03 Borough nonattainment area routinely exceed federal health-based standards; and 04 WHEREAS air quality issues could affect large-scale economic development, 05 including military expansion; and 06 WHEREAS studies have identified wood burning as the greatest contributor of 07 PM2.5 pollution; and 08 WHEREAS the state Department of Environmental Conservation has developed a 09 state implementation plan to address wood burning as the root cause of PM2.5 pollution; and 10 WHEREAS actual PM2.5 pollution measured across the Fairbanks North Star 11 Borough nonattainment area has halved as the result of efforts taken under the state 12 Department of Environmental Conservation's moderate and serious state implementation 13 plans; and 14 WHEREAS a significant reduction in PM2.5 emissions has been attributed to the 15 replacement of solid fuel burning appliances, also known as woodstoves, with either new 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency-certified solid fuel burning appliances or 17 non-solid fuel burning appliance alternatives; and 18 WHEREAS United States Environmental Protection Agency-certified appliances 19 installed in the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area did not decrease PM2.5 20 emissions when compared to previously installed solid fuel burning appliances because of the 21 United States Environmental Protection Agency's failure to competently manage and 22 implement testing standards for this program; and 23 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency approved the state 24 Department of Environmental Conservation's standards for wood-fired heating devices and 25 solid fuel burning appliance control measures from the serious state implementation plan in 26 September 2021, effectively supporting the state Department of Environmental Conservation's 27 finding that the United States Environmental Protection Agency's national wood heater 28 certification program is deeply flawed; and 29 WHEREAS, at the national policy level, the United States Environmental Protection 30 Agency seems intent on turning attentions toward so-called greener sources of heat, including 31 electric heat pumps that will not work as solutions in the Fairbanks North Star Borough
01 because the second law of thermodynamics states that heat always moves from hotter objects 02 to colder objects, unless energy in some form is supplied to reverse the direction of heat flow; 03 and 04 WHEREAS residents of the Fairbanks North Star Borough need adequate and 05 affordable sources of heat in harsh subarctic winter conditions, and the state Department of 06 Environmental Conservation has acknowledged that a pathway for the use of solid fuel 07 burning appliances is essential to these Alaskans; and 08 WHEREAS the state Department of Environmental Conservation's state 09 implementation plan was crafted in adherence to an enormous effort from the local 10 stakeholders group; and 11 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has yet to provide a 12 working model necessary to dismiss overly burdensome and expensive controls on local 13 power plants that insignificantly contribute to air pollution during air alert days in the 14 Fairbanks North Star Borough; and 15 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency proposes to mandate 16 these more expensive controls, even though such an investment would be unlikely to reduce 17 exposure to unhealthy air; and 18 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency would further 19 mandate ultra-low-sulfur diesel for home heating oil, driving up the cost of living for residents 20 of the Fairbanks North Star Borough; and 21 WHEREAS these actions will drive residents to solid fuel burning appliances as a 22 source of heat; and 23 WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has nevertheless 24 reverted to a liability-averse course of disapproval for the state Department of Environmental 25 Conservation's state implementation plan that would impose costly and burdensome 26 regulations; 27 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 28 Environmental Protection Agency to develop a woodstove certification program that the state 29 Department of Environmental Conservation and residents of the Fairbanks North Star 30 Borough nonattainment area can rely on to address the core threat to clean and healthy winter 31 air in Fairbanks; and be it
01 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state 02 Department of Environmental Conservation to continue efforts to develop and defend a state 03 implementation plan for the Fairbanks North Star Borough serious nonattainment area that 04 acknowledges the unique challenges Alaskans face, is economically and technically feasible, 05 and is legally defensible, while avoiding costly and burdensome requirements that further 06 such hardships; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state 08 Department of Environmental Conservation to investigate all options to defend its state 09 implementation plan, which reflects the community's needs and engagement, from federal 10 attack, in court if necessary. 11 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President 12 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and 13 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the 14 Interior; and the Honorable Michael S. Regan, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental 15 Protection Agency; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. 16 Senators, and the Honorable Mary Peltola, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 17 delegation in Congress.