Is that an EPA approved rocket heater?

http://www.naturalnews.com/034179_EPA_wood-burning_stoves.html#ixzz1dxu3kAKX

I don't like the sound of this, though I don't read it to mean they are coming door-to-door to get your glaringly unapproved, but ultra-efficient RMH - more a matter of restricting manufacture & sale of unapproved devices. Nevertheless, disturbing.

I'd rather they educate than regulate.

But the EPA is now expressing concern about the 80 percent-or-so of wood stove users that still rely on non-EPA approved models. Most of the wood stoves manufactured before 1990 do not contain the EPA's certification stamp of approval which, in the eyes of the agency, means they are an unnecessary contributor of excess environmental pollution.

No they are not talking about rocket stoves. They would really flip if that were the case. They are speaking about older (store bought) models.
And they are legislating against these older models. When you buy a house, before escrow can close the stove (should a house have one) must be inspected and replaced if it doesn't meet the current standards.

Depends what state we are talking about, but I believe a rocket stove would be a problem for passing code in the more democratic states.
At worst they would just make you pull it out before the house passed inspection.

With the first round of EPA requirements, about 80% of the wood stove manufacturers in the US went out of business. The costs of redesigning and retooling could not be warranted in an industry with diminishing sales.

I have read that "cook stoves" were exempt. To qualify as a cook stove, it had to have an oven. Also, from what I have read, heat stoves were also exempted if they were the only source of heat

I have not read the most recent rules/regs, and proposals, but I would assume that if ever comes the day when homes would need to remove existing stoves, most of those old stoves would probably end up in barns and workshops. I would hate to see the old classics on the scrap metal buyers heap.