THE ACT Liberals have pledged to overturn a ban on wood heaters in the Molonglo Valley if they win next month's election.
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Liberal leader Zed Seselja said the government, supported by the Greens, was turning the territory into a ''nanny state''.
But a NSW Government air quality expert has slammed the policy in light of the annual air quality report for 2011 that identified domestic wood heaters as the biggest source of air pollution in the ACT.
Dr Dorothy Robinson said there was no safe level of wood smoke and Environment Minister Simon Corbell said the Liberals were ignorant of health concerns for children and older Canberrans.
Mr Corbell pointed to an independent report by AECOM Australia that recommended banning wood heaters in the area as an inversion layer, created by Molonglo's unique topography, traps pollution in the valley on cold and still days.
''It's a negligent approach and it endangers the health of the elderly and children,'' Mr Corbell said.
The report says wood smoke can cause asthma, chronic lung disease, heart problems, premature births and even deaths.
''The topography and meteorological conditions, particularly valley drainage flows, expected in the Molonglo Valley suggest that wood smoke could be a significant issue for the proposed development … the use of wood heaters in other areas may also potentially contribute to elevated pollutant concentrations within the proposed development area under inversion conditions,'' the report said.
But Mr Seselja said the industry had new standards that made burning wood more efficient.
''We know that the new wood-fired heaters are very clean-burning, that the standards have changed so all the wood-fired heaters coming to the Molonglo Valley would be high quality,'' Mr Seselja said.
The Government had not done enough to keep the cost of electricity down and wood heaters were an alternative.
''Its 90 per cent renewable target … will add $500 to everyone's electricity bills,'' Mr Seselja said.
According to a report from the Australian Home Heating Association the industry decided to lower the national emission level from 4 grams per kilogram to 2.5 grams and introduce an efficiency rating of 55 per cent by December 2013.
But Dr Robinson, who works for the NSW Department of Primary Industries, and analysed air quality in Canberra, said the industry could not police itself. She said a NSW Government study had found wood heaters in the state caused $6 billion of health problems.
