North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina.

Madam Chair, the EPA has decided that 12 million wood-burning stoves in 2.4 million households across America need to be regulated.

Back in the Eighth District of Missouri, about 30,000 households use wood heat to warm their homes. Census data shows that households heating with wood grew 34 percent between 2000 and 2010 and that low- and middle-income households are much more likely to use wood as a primary heating fuel. A given home in my district is five times more likely to be heated with wood than is the national average.

Constituents I talk with daily are sick of this administration's war on rural America. Rules like these disproportionately hurt rural areas, which use much more wood heat than do urban or suburban environments: 57 percent of households that primarily use wood for heat are in rural areas; 40 percent are in the suburbs; and only 3 percent are in urban areas. Times are already tough enough back home. Folks should not be punished for their self-reliance and their forethought to take advantage of an abundant, eco-friendly fuel like wood.

I urge my colleagues to join me in eliminating this rule and keeping affordable energy available to folks who need it the most.

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