Lara Nagle's May Update

The Wood Smoke education grant that we received from the Department of Environmental Protection, set to terminate in June, includes a clause that requires educational outreach to municipal leaders and enforcement officers in six counties in the SW PA region. An effective outreach tool we used this month was a woodsmoke educational webinar, with over 50 registrants and an hour long session, plus questions, that discussed wood smoke and human health, and the new state outdoor wood-fire boiler (OWB) regulations. We'll host the same webinar again in June, and have surveyed participants about their understanding of the issue. We also conducted a mass-mailing of packets with informational and publicity materials about the wood smoke issue to boroughs and townships in the 6-county area. Wood smoke creates a variety of pollutants that cause or exacerbate cancer, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and allergies. The new OWB regulations stipulate types of boilers that can be installed, distance requirements from neighboring properties, stack heights, types of wood to burn, etc.