Today I met with Joseph Takacs, building Inspector, for Santa Clara County. Citing the counties' 1990 Ordinance NS-1100.90 on wood-burning appliances, Joe said wood-burning fireplaces in Santa Clara County have to be EPA certified (which none are) or meet the Northern Sonoma County standard (which no fireplace has ever met). He didn't seem to be aware of the BAAQMD Regulation 6 or of the EPA Voluntary Fireplace Program, the ASTM E2558 fireplace emissions standard or the list of EPA Qualified fireplaces. So, as far as Joe is concerned, it's the county rules he must follow - not the BAAQMD Regulation 6. The Santa Clara County Rule does at least allow outdoor or cooking wood-burning fireplaces and wood-burning fireplaces in rural areas 150 feet beyond the gas lines. I wonder if we could suggest that Santa Clara County update their rule to recognize the ASTM test standard and the EPA Voluntary Program. It might only take changing one word - EPA "certified" to "qualified". But what about the BAAQMD? Does the county have to follow the rule or not? Apparently they don't think so. ********** Interestingly, requiring fireplaces to meet a non-existent EPA standard or the no-body-has-ever-passed Northern Sonoma County standard comes right out of our San Jose law suit which we were never able to test in court during the tolling period.

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