IDEQ accepting applications for Woodstove Changeout Program

KELLOGG – For five years running, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has offered to replace qualifying old wood stoves in the West Silver Valley.

IDEQ announced recently that the application period for the 2021 woodstove changeout program will be open from now till the end of the year.

Thanks to an Environmental Protection Agency airshed grant awarded to IDEQ in 2016, West Silver Valley Airshed Project Analyst Dan Smith has overseen the replacement of approximately 188 out-of-date wood stoves in the attainment area. Originally planned to end in 2020, the program has been so successful that it has been brought back for one last year.

For the past four years, the qualifications for the change-out have remained mostly the same. Candidates must reside in the West Silver Valley Non-Attainment Area (which runs from Cataldo to Big Creek. Pine Creek and portions of the North Fork also apply) and must be currently burning a non-EPA-certified wood stove in their residence.

For last year and this year though, Smith and IDEQ have expanded these qualifications to include businesses and homeowners with backyard workshops.

This inclusion of businesses and shops was spurred by observations Smith has made in the area. In many cases, he noticed businesses and residents burning items with either burn barrels or shop stoves– both of which contribute to the air pollution levels.

If accepted, the program can provide a new stove/funds for a new stove to replace an uncertified wood stove. Replacement stoves would be EPA-certified and can be wood, gas, or pellet fueled. Stoves manufactured after 1998 may be replaced with a gas stove or insert.

On top of the new stoves, the airshed grant has also had funding available (to those who qualify) in the past to address chimney issues. Smith noticed the chimneys attached to the non-compliant stoves were a mess during most of his inspections in the past.

“The biggest issue we are seeing is that of all the stoves we have installed — not one chimney has been worth a damn,” he said in a previous interview.

“If the stove is the heart of the system, the chimney is the lungs — they don’t work without each other.”

Installing a brand new — more efficient — stove that pumps out more heat than its predecessor presents a fire hazard when combined with an obsolete/damaged chimney.

The vast majority of qualified applicants who have received a new stove in the past have also had some sort of work done to their chimney.

The purpose of this change out is to cut down air pollutants in the Silver Valley — specifically wood stove smoke. In 2015, the EPA designated the West Silver Valley as a nonattainment area for PM2.5, meaning it had violated the federal health-based annual standard for this pollutant. Since then, efforts to reduce local particulate matter have been successful and IDEQ submitted a request to EPA to re-designate the area as "in attainment."

It was because of the previous non-attainment rating that IDEQ was able to get the grant to fund the project.

These elevated levels of particulate matter can affect the overall health of area residents — particularly children with chronic health conditions and the elderly.

During the colder winter months when the area is susceptible to frequent inversions, fine particulate matter from woodstoves and other sources can be trapped in the area. The new, cleaner burning, wood stoves only release 3.5 grams per hour (gph) of particulate, compared to the older/outdated ones that release around 35 gph.

Applications are also available online at the West Silver Valley Air Quality Improvement Project web page. Paper copies are available at the DEQ Kellogg office (1005 McKinley Ave.) or Pinehurst City Hall.

Home visits to inspect old stoves will start in January 2021, with installations beginning in February.

For more information or questions about the application, contact Dan Smith at 208-783-5781 or email him at dan.smith@deq.idaho.gov.