[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 177 (Thursday, October 26, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5211-S5212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petition or memorial was laid before the Senate and was 
referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-80. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Alaska 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; to the 
     Committee on Environment and Public Works.

                     House Joint Resolution No. 11

       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 1s 
     harmful to the health of 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 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

[[Page S5212]]

       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; Now, therefore, 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 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.

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