Which Is It? Feds Provide Purchase Credits for Wood Burners – And Grants for Removing Them

Duplication nation. Thoughtful and careful legislating is a thing of past. Simultaneously giving tax credits to install wood-burning devices and grants to replace them (to save the environment) is a great example of congressional insanity.

Look no further than the Environmental Protection Agency and Congress for the latest example of one hand not knowing what the other is doing.

The EPA is funding $2.1 million in grants to replace residential wood-burning stoves and fireplaces with electric heat pumps in the San Francisco Bay Area, as reported by JustTheNews.com.

The project seeks to reduce harmful particulate matter emissions, especially for low-income residents in “environmental justice communities” in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district.

The EPA is working with Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which is kicking in $205,000 toward the program.

The EPA’s funding is part of its larger Targeted Airshed Grant Program to reduce air pollution, which has spent tens of millions of dollars in the last several years.

This is as Congress passed the $900 billion Covid-19 relief package that Pelosi helped shepherd through in December.

Inside the aid bill are tax credits to people who install home heating and hot water systems that use wood pellets, chips and cordwood.

It is a great example: Congress has created a maze of bureaucracy and overlap. The duplicative programs cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.