Find fair, legal solution

Linn County residents thought they were doing a good thing by installing and operating outdoor wood-fired boilers.

Those boilers have been touted as a way to cut heating costs and help reduce our dependence on oil.

But earlier this year, about 200 Linn County owners of outdoor wood-fired boilers learned their systems were emitting too many particulates even though they say they got the county's OK to install them.

Since then, they've been at the center of a struggle as county and state officials try to figure out how to address the problem.

Air quality is important, but officials must recognize the financial stake these owners have in systems they thought were allowed.

County policy makers owe boiler owners a compromise that reasonably protects their investment while protecting the air for all of us.

Outdoor wood-fired boilers have become a popular alternative way of providing heat and hot water.

Owners of the 200 Linn County boilers in question invested up to $10,000 in the systems, which use renewable resources and can save owners money over time.

That's before county health officials realized just how much pollution some of those boilers were giving off.

They say they learned only relatively recently that manufacturers were selling boilers that emit more particulates than are allowed under emissions rules.

They say smoke from wood-fired boilers have been linked to health conditions such as aggravated asthma, coughing, decreased lung function, chronic bronchitis and irregular heartbeats.

Neighbors sometimes complain that the smoke gets into their houses, causing headaches, sore lungs and eyes.

This spring, county health officials proposed banning all but EPA-certified boilers within 850 feet of a property line - a standard that few of the county's existing boilers would meet.

They proposed giving owners a certain period of time to get rid of or modify non-compliant boilers, but didn't grandfather in existing ones.

That, understandably, upset many boiler owners. Later, county health officials suggested a compromise that would have let owners continue to use existing non-compliant boilers if they raised the stacks to between 15 and 25 feet above the ground. They believe this addition will satisfy emissions rules.

But supervisors rejected that idea late last month and approved the first reading of a proposal to exempt existing wood boilers altogether.

No way, the state Department of Natural Resources said last week. An air quality executive told supervisors they risked state and federal funding for air quality monitoring if they exempted the boilers.

Supervisors have delayed the second reading of the ordinance to review the impact of approving an exemption. Good.

Linn County's high particulate levels are something to be concerned about, and it looks as if simply exempting non-compliant boilers isn't an option. But people invested significant chunks of money in these heating systems. It's not fair to ask wood-fired boiler owners to simply tear them down and start over.

Officials have to work together to form a fair, legal solution.