Borough seeks to boost payout for wood stove removal

Julie Collins photo

Julie Collins photo

A wood stove needs close attention and can even be monitored from outdoors by watching smoke emerge from the stovepipe. A slow, steady plume of white smoke like this moonlit scene indicates a warm but calm fire.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough’s heat source change out and conversion programs have seen rapid use since it was implemented.

The federally-funded program serves as a financial incentive by partially paying for a conversion from a wood-burning stove to natural gas or heating oil boiler system or to swap an older, dirtier wood stove for a more efficient one.

But one segment — removal of a wood stove or hydronic heater — have been slow to adopt.

“Removals in the change-out program are historically low, with a mere 24 removed since 2020 at an average of six per year,” said Steven Hoke, the borough’s air quality manager. “Removals in general increase the program throughput as it requires less processing and reduces common chokepoints such as vendor capacity and installation delivery delays.”

An ordinance sponsored by Borough Mayor Bryce Ward seeks to increase what it offers for removal of devices and provide it as a one-time payment, said Steven Hoke.

To remove and replace wood stoves and fire place and fire place inserts, the borough would boost its incentive from $2,000 to $10,000, but pellet stoves remain $2,000. For hydronic heaters, it proposes boosting the incentive to from $5,000 to $14,000.

The removal amount increases would mirror what the replacement programs offer.

“We expect to see an increase in overall participation in removals,” Hoke said. “We would see more money going into the hands of eligible borough residents to do whatever change-out they want … they are not tied to any one option.”

Hoke said the revisions could bolster the removal of devices and change out by 342 over three years.

Ward, the borough mayor, said the program change provides one benefit: it puts the money directly into borough residents’ hands instead of having to pay third-party vendors who would otherwise conduct the installation.

“When someone comes to us and wants to do a conversion program, we have a reimbursement of up to $10,000,” Ward said. “But it takes a lot of staff time for us to process the information and provide the reimbursement.”

With the proposed adjustment, Ward said “we are going straight to the removal and we will write you a check.”

“You can then decide if you want to convert to natural gas, or propane or diesel,” Ward said. “The resident gets the entire amount and can decide if they want to shop around.”

Many of the options in the change-out program pay for conversion to another heating source, but allow the continued presence of a wood stove with the caveat future ones are not installed. A deed restriction reinforces that requirement.

Hoke added that it would likely also expedite removal of older devices before Dec. 31, 2024, under a DEC regulation that will render any outdoor nonpellet hydronic heater and nonEPA certified wood stoves as noncompliant.

The programs are funded through Targeted Airshed Grants (or TAG) provided by the Environmental Protection Agency. The borough launched its program in an effort to reduce wintertime fine particulate matter (or PM2.5) levels in the borough’s nonattainment area, which includes the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole.

Three of the five TAG grants reimburse home owners for removal of solid fuel burning appliance, such as hydronic heaters, wood and pellet stoves and fireplace inserts. While the 2018 and 2019 grants have upcoming deadlines to spend, Hoke said the borough will ask the EPA for an extension to spend the combined $10.9 million.

The borough at one time provided its own funding for the program, but there have been no local tax dollars invested for several years.

Hoke said the EPA has provided verbal agreement for the grant changes, but still needs written approval.

The change-out programs are layered and provide different solutions, depending on a particular year grant. Removal of an old pellet stove, for example, would only be reimbursed for $2,000 because it technically emits less pollution, while the borough’s proposed regulation change would reimburse up to $10,000 for a wood stove or coal-powered source.

Assemblymember Tammie Wilson shared some reservations, including why the borough didn’t boost hydronic heater removal incentives first, which on paper have the dirtiest emissions.

Ward said borough staff discussed the appropriate dollar amount, including informal surveys. Ultimately, the administration based the amounts on invoices it received from its change-out conversions. Converting from a wood stove to a natural gas or heating oil boiler system averaged $10,000 and from a hydronic heater cost $14,000.

“In talking with EPA and DEC, there was strong support to mirror the [conversion] reimbursement rates because we can get more devices out quicker,” Ward said. “We are advancing our burn-down rate of [the program funding] by half.”

Assemblymember David Guttenberg asked about emergency power backup options, a component offered under the reimbursement model.

“One of the concerns we heard years ago was that folks wanted to have a stove in the home in case the power went out as it was a source of security,” Ward said. “We went back through the ordinance and said people’s are valid as we do lose power and it gets cold.”

The backup power supply was a solution that allowed installation of a generator and transfer switch to power the boiler, a refrigerator and few other appliances.

Wilson had concerns about the one-time payouts.

“I find it fascinating that we want to pay them simply for removal because we never trusted people earlier to not put another wood device back into their home,” Wilson said. “Without police powers, there’s nothing the borough could do if people just go back down the street and put another wood stove into their homes.”

Ward and Hoke noted that regulation of wood burning stoves falls on DEC’s shoulders, which have tools in place. Additionally, the EPA grant requires a deed restriction that prohibits homeowners from installing new wood-burning devices, something that can policed through home purchase and other tools.

For more information on the change out program, visit www.fnsb.gov/386/Change-Out-Programs.

The Assembly will decide on whether to approve the new rates at a public hearing on Thursday at the Juanita Helms Administration Center, 907 Terminal St. The Assembly meets at 6 p.m., but the public hearing will be heard after 7 p.m.

Contact reporter Jack Barnwell at 907-459-7587 or [email protected].