COPD with certified wood stove

We have been inundated with wood smoke for the past 3.5 years. Our neighbors removed a gas fireplace and installed an EPA approved wood stove. They did this because of the false claims of health departments, government agencies and the wood burning industry, that makes claims that the new stoves burn cleanly. Unfortunately for us, this has not proved to be the case. The year before the neighbors installed their indoor wood stove, my wife was hospitalized for 3 months during which time she had MRI’s and chest X-rays that all came back clear. However, in the fall of the 2nd year of the wood stove operating next door, she was diagnosed with COPD, which now costs us $300.00 a month to help her breathe. This could only be due to the wood smoke we are exposed to in our own home from the neighbor’s wood burning.

I have many pictures of our home engulfed in such smoke. I have contacted many authorities to help us—but to no avail. As a matter of fact, what happens is one agency or person says to contact another agency or person and it just goes round and round in circles. Our town officials have zero idea how deadly wood smoke can be, so it is a non-issue for them. I have spent perhaps close to $4,000 in the past 3 years trying to alleviate our situation which includes taking out much loved trees hoping to change wind patterns.  I contacted 4 different law firms, none of which would take  our case. One law firm told me if they were to take on our case it would cost $25,000.00 just to get it off the ground—with no guarantee that the judge was not a wood burner himself.

Where is our right to breathe?  I cannot imagine the financial loss if I where to sell our home of many years. If I did sell our house without disclosing the wood smoke issue, I could then be sued for not disclosing an environmental hazard.