By The Associated Press Matt Buxton, Fairbanks Daily-News Miner AP

10:34 a.m. AKDT, October 3, 2012
FAIRBANKS, Alaska—

Voters in the Fairbanks North Star Borough have approved an initiative that bans borough officials from regulating air pollution from home heating devices, including hydronic heaters that burn wood.
   
The decision strips the borough of enforcement powers connected to air quality and wood-burning devices.
   
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/VgxjOt) reports the decision comes a few months before state and local officials must submit a plan telling the Environmental Protection Agency how the area will correct its perennially polluted air.
   
If a plan is not submitted or deemed insufficient, the EPA can cut federal roadway subsidies or impose regulations on larger air quality projects.
   
The EPA could also within two years impose its own federal air quality plan on the borough.