EPA’s in-house watchdog is again warning that slipshod oversight imperils the agency’s ability to ensure that new wood stoves comply with emission limits for a potentially deadly pollutant.
As a result, stoves and other residential wood heating appliances “that do not meet Clean Air Act standards may end up in the marketplace, increasing risks to public health and the environment,” EPA Inspector General Sean O’Donnell’s office wrote in a report released Thursday.
Among the concerns: that labs approved by EPA to run compliance tests for new models aren’t necessarily following the rules. The test results are then supposed to be certified by an independent third party. But in one instance, the inspector general found that a lab was serving as its own certifier, undermining that requirement.
Notwithstanding that inconsistency, EPA granted a certificate of compliance to the manufacturer, which “then proceeded to sell thousands of improperly certified wood heaters in the United States,” the report says. Even after rival manufacturers complained, “EPA did not revoke the certificate of compliance, and the lab remained approved by the EPA,” the report adds.
