Furnaces Smogging Up Neighborhoods

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants wood-burning
furnaces to be cleaned up. But many cities aren’t waiting for the EPA
to act. They’re calling the furnaces a menace to public health.
Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants wood-burning
furnaces to be cleaned up. But many cities aren’t waiting for the EPA
to act. They’re calling the furnaces a menace to public health.
Tracy Samilton reports:


More people are buying wood-burning furnaces to avoid high utility
bills. But some of the wood burners can release black, stinky smoke,
especially if the owners use scrap wood. Many cities have passed
ordinances banning the furnaces in response to neighborhood complaints.


Bob McCann is a spokesman for Michigan’s Department of Environmental
Quality. He says the soot from woodburners can cause asthma attacks
and other health problems.


“This is not a factory with a smokestack miles away. This is a
smokestack, obviously a much smaller, right in someone’s neighborhood.”


About 70% of the companies that make wood-burning furnaces are expected
to voluntarily retrofit their products with technology to reduce
emissions. But the more polluting furnaces will remain on the market,
usually at a lower cost.


For the Environment Report, I’m Tracy Samilton.

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Governor Blocks Great Lakes Water Diversion

The governor of Michigan is blocking a request by a town in
Wisconsin to pump water from Lake Michigan. The GLRC’s Sarah
Hulett reports:

Transcript

The governor of Michigan is blocking a request by a town in
Wisconsin to pump water from Lake Michigan. The GLRC’s Sarah
Hulett reports:


Under federal law right now, any one of the eight Great Lakes
governors can veto a proposed water withdrawal, but a
proposed agreement between the eight states would allow
communities that straddle the boundary that defines the Great
Lakes basin to draw water from the lakes.


The town of New Berlin, Wisconsin sits on the boundary. It’s
asking for permission to draw water from Lake Michigan for the
half of the city that sits outside the basin, but Governor Granholm
of Michigan says she won’t consider the request.


Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Spokesman Bob
McCann says he realizes one town won’t drain the lake:


“But a thousand such proposals coming in may do that. So the question is,
where do you draw the line?”


Michigan’s governor says until that new multi-state agreement is
ratified, it’s important not to set a bad precedent.


For the GLRC, I’m Sarah Hulett.

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