MEDIA ADVISORY
WHO: Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association
WHAT: The newly proposed consent decree to settle Harley-Davidson’s alleged Clean Air Act violation no longer includes funds towards a $3 million woodstove changeout program in the northeast.
WHEN: The proposed consent decree was published today.
WHERE: Northeast, U.S.
WHY: The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to remove the provision funding an environmental mitigation project in the northeastern U.S. is highly disappointing. Woodstove changeout programs funded by settlement agreements are important public-private partnerships between local and regional organizations and the U.S. government with the goal of mitigating environmental harm directly impacting residents, especially rural communities. This program would have changed out thousands of older woodstoves in the northeast, replacing them with today’s newer, cleaner-burning woodstoves that U.S. manufacturers have invested millions of dollars developing. We intend to submit comments to DOJ in the next 30 days and implore the Administration to consider restoring the changeout program, an environmental mitigation project that, according to DOJ’s June 5 guidance memo, should be exempt from the memo’s restrictions.