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S T A T E O F A L A S K A
THE LEGISLATURE
2023
Legislative
Source Resolve No.
HJR 11 7
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.
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BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
WHEREAS, in November 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
designated part of the Fairbanks North Star Borough a nonattainment area for fine particle
pollution; and
WHEREAS, in May 2017, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
reclassified the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area from moderate to serious
for particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), which are fine inhalable particles with diameters that are
generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller; and
WHEREAS PM2.5 pollution is of serious concern and is harmful to the health of
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vulnerable Alaskans subjected to it; and
WHEREAS, in the winter, PM2.5 concentrations in the Fairbanks North Star
Borough nonattainment area routinely exceed federal health-based standards; and
WHEREAS air quality issues could affect large-scale economic development,
including military expansion; and
WHEREAS studies have identified wood burning as the greatest contributor of
PM2.5 pollution; and
WHEREAS the state Department of Environmental Conservation has developed a
state implementation plan to address wood burning as the root cause of PM2.5 pollution; and
WHEREAS actual PM2.5 pollution measured across the Fairbanks North Star
Borough nonattainment area has halved as the result of efforts taken under the state
Department of Environmental Conservation's moderate and serious state implementation
plans; and
WHEREAS a significant reduction in PM2.5 emissions has been attributed to the
replacement of solid fuel burning appliances, also known as woodstoves, with either new
United States Environmental Protection Agency-certified solid fuel burning appliances or
non-solid fuel burning appliance alternatives; and
WHEREAS United States Environmental Protection Agency-certified appliances
installed in the Fairbanks North Star Borough nonattainment area did not decrease PM2.5
emissions when compared to previously installed solid fuel burning appliances because of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency's failure to competently manage and
implement testing standards for this program; and
WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency approved the state
Department of Environmental Conservation's standards for wood-fired heating devices and
solid fuel burning appliance control measures from the serious state implementation plan in
September 2021, effectively supporting the state Department of Environmental Conservation's
finding that the United States Environmental Protection Agency's national wood heater
certification program is deeply flawed; and
WHEREAS, at the national policy level, the United States Environmental Protection
Agency seems intent on turning attentions toward so-called greener sources of heat, including
electric heat pumps, that will not work as solutions in the Fairbanks North Star Borough
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because the second law of thermodynamics states that heat always moves from hotter objects
to colder objects, unless energy in some form is supplied to reverse the direction of heat flow;
and
WHEREAS residents of the Fairbanks North Star Borough need adequate and
affordable sources of heat in harsh subarctic winter conditions, and the state Department of
Environmental Conservation has acknowledged that a pathway for the use of solid fuel
burning appliances is essential to these Alaskans; and
WHEREAS the state Department of Environmental Conservation's state
implementation plan was crafted in adherence to an enormous effort from the local
stakeholders group; and
WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has yet to provide a
working model necessary to dismiss overly burdensome and expensive controls on local
power plants that insignificantly contribute to air pollution during air alert days in the
Fairbanks North Star Borough; and
WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency proposes to mandate
these more expensive controls, even though such an investment would be unlikely to reduce
exposure to unhealthy air; and
WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency would further
mandate ultra-low-sulfur diesel for home heating oil, driving up the cost of living for residents
of the Fairbanks North Star Borough; and
WHEREAS these actions will drive residents to solid fuel burning appliances as a
source of heat; and
WHEREAS the United States Environmental Protection Agency has nevertheless
reverted to a liability-averse course of disapproval for the state Department of Environmental
Conservation's state implementation plan that would impose costly and burdensome
regulations;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States
Environmental Protection Agency to develop a woodstove certification program that the state
Department of Environmental Conservation and residents of the Fairbanks North Star
Borough nonattainment area can rely on to address the core threat to clean and healthy winter
air in Fairbanks; and be it
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FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state
Department of Environmental Conservation to continue efforts to develop and defend a state
implementation plan for the Fairbanks North Star Borough serious nonattainment area that
acknowledges the unique challenges Alaskans face, is economically and technically feasible,
and is legally defensible, while avoiding costly and burdensome requirements that further
such hardships; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state
Department of Environmental Conservation to investigate all options to defend its state
implementation plan, which reflects the community's needs and engagement, from federal
attack, in court if necessary.
COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President
of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and
President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Deb Haaland, United States Secretary of the
Interior; the Honorable Michael S. Regan, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S.
Senators, and the Honorable Mary Peltola, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska
delegation in Congress.