Hello my friends and fellow patriots! Here is an example of state governments going hog wild. With the problems in the economy, all they can think about is getting rid of woodstoves! Can you say Agenda 21? I was going to send this only to WA state groups, but I think it could affect more than WA state citizens overall. So, if you or someone you know lives in Washington state, forward this to them so they can know what their elected employees are doing for them instead of fixing a bad economy. And if you want to contact them yourselves, here's their web site. http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx
Tom Kiley
(Update, just received a message from my State Senator, Delvin, who said the bill in play here is still in the house, and they are trying to stop it. Great!)
To the members of the Senate Rules Committee, and Mr Delvin, my state Senator, I am extremely opposed to the action before you, to prohibit the use of woodstoves in the state. Thousands of families across the state use woodstoves for their main source of heat. In fact, many of them use woodstoves as their ONLY source of heat. Changes to section (b) which as I understand are, '(b) "Prohibit the use" or "prohibition" may include requiring disclosure, removal, rendering inoperable, providing evidence of destruction, or other similar requirements as may be approved by rule by a local air pollution control authority or other department.' This is absolutely ludicrous, for starters. As I said, thousands of homes have woodstoves. Many have more than one. The cost just to implement section (b) per house hold will be extraordinary. Multiply that by the thousands of affected homes. We're talking millions of dollars just to disable the woodstoves! Then, the cost of installing a new source of heat, such as a heat pump or central heating will also be in the thousands per household. Another few millions of dollars you will force taxpaying voters to spend money that they do not have presently. THEN, once the obvious electrical system is installed, the cost of running the new system will also be exorbitant. To be conservative, each month the new system will add approximately one to two hundred dollars to the electric bill. $100-200 per month, times 4-5 months? That will be anywhere from 400 to1000 dollars extra each winter that these households will have to pay to keep their homes warm. So, you are planning to force Washington State, taxpaying, voting households to pay anywhere from 3 to 10 thousand dollars to replace their woodstoves, and from then on pay up to 1 thousand dollars more for electric heat per season. Why?
Now, what about the businesses that will be affected? I don't know how many fireplace businesses are located in Washington state, so let's be conservative again, and say 100 across the state. If each one sells 10 fireplaces a year, at 1500 to 5000 dollars a piece, you are looking to prevent 100 businesses from selling 15 to 50 thousand dollars worth of product. Again, multiply that figure by the number of businesses, you come up with 1.5 to 5 million dollars worth of small business sales. And that's just the stoves themselves. That doesn't include the smaller items such as bellows ($25-50 ea), wood racks ($10-30 ea), decorative mantle items ($20 up) Stove tool kits - poker, shovel, brush,etc. ($15-200 ea). And fireplaces? Chimney sweeps, cleaning devices, etc. can also reach in the tens of thousands of dollars of lost business as well! You have the makings of destroying a business that has been in this state for a very long time that has potential sales of over 10 million dollars annually! WHY????
So, you all are the elected employees sent to Olympia to do our business. What is the most important issue our state and our nation faces today? It sure isn't woodstoves! It's the economy, right! So, how can you look your constituents, your BOSSES in the face and say with a happy grin that you destroyed a business worth 1.5 to 5 million dollars, and forced your employers to spend 3 to 10 thousand dollars each to conform to your new rule, or freeze in the winter? How can you do this and expect to have any future in politics? Those in the house may have gotten this one over on us by not promoting the ability to provide testimony and discussion before they voted. They did that at their political peril. I recommend you think twice before we decide your political peril in November.
Sincerely,
Tom Kiley
PCO for Legion Precinct
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