These grants are available to local clean air agencies and Ecology regional offices (where no local clean air agency exists) for projects that support wood stove education and enforcement efforts. Wood smoke is one of the main sources of air pollution in Washington. Wood stoves, fireplaces, and other wood-burning devices put out hundreds of times more air pollution than other sources of heat, such as natural gas or electricity. RCW 70.94.483 established a wood stove education program to increase awareness of health effects from wood smoke and ways to reduce it.
These grants are funded by the Wood Stove Education and Enforcement Account, which is supported by a $30 fee on the retail sale of each wood burning device sold in Washington.