Natural gas advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a growing number of states and cities are considering or enacting bans on the future construction of not just gas stoves, but also natural gas hookups, a move that would raise consumer costs and potentially have negative environmental consequences.
According to the free-market Minnesota think-tank Center of the American Experiment, lawmakers in Minnesota introduced legislation Wednesday that would allow the state’s Commissioner of Labor and Industry to amend the state’s energy code to “mitigate the impact of climate change,” a directive that could be used to justify a natural gas ban.
California and New York are considering statewide bans, which would not only raise costs but may not have the desired climate benefits, according to Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research.
“Natural gas is our cleanest fossil [fuel] and it is responsible for the U.S. reducing carbon dioxide emissions more than other country, largely because we have centuries of the stuff.” Kish told the DCNF. “God blessed North America with enormous energy wealth, and our only impediment is power-hungry politicians who want to make energy more expensive and more foreign, while bossing Americans around by telling them how to heat their homes and what kind of car they can drive.”
According to the US Energy Information Administration, roughly half of all homes in the US use natural gas for space and water heating, accounting for about 15% of total natural gas consumption in the US. According to Seattle-based HVAC firm Evergreen Home Heating and Energy, space heating with natural gas is far less expensive than all-electric systems because it is more energy efficient.
The issue of natural gas bans gained national attention after it was revealed that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) was considering a nationwide ban on gas stoves due to concerns that the pollutants produced by the stoves could be harmful. Nonetheless, the study on which these concerns are based was partially funded by a pair of activist groups that advocate for appliance electrification.
According to the Associated Press, Eugene, Oregon, became the first city in the state to impose a ban on new natural gas hookups on Monday. Members of the City Council cited a desire to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and eliminate health hazards as the primary reasons for the new ban, which applies to all new residential buildings of three stories or less.
The proposed Minnesota legislation is similar to legislation passed in New York in May 2022, which allowed regulators to update the state energy code to promote “clean energy” and “efficiency standards for appliances.” According to the Center of the American Experiment, this New York statute served as justification for the state’s Climate Action Council’s December proposal to change the New York energy code to effectively prohibit gas hookups in new buildings.
“For me, the health effects are now just as important as the climate effects,” Mayor Lisa Batey of Milwaukie, Oregon, said regarding a potential ban on natural gas hookups in her own city, according to local CBS affiliate KOIN. “I am actually looking at taking my gas stove out and replacing it with an induction stove.”
While many cities in the state have already issued bans on gas hookups, California legislators are moving towards a statewide ban on gas-powered furnaces and water heaters by 2030, according to Bloomberg.
The U.S. is up to its eyeballs in proved natural gas reserves, yet Biden and NY Governor Kathy Hochul want to ban gas stoves. I can't tell if this is stupidity or malfeasance. Probably both. pic.twitter.com/BVaJ0PMW9q
— Jim Rickards (@JamesGRickards) January 31, 2023
“Natural gas has been one of the principal drivers to achieving our nation’s environmental and economic goals. From providing affordable energy to consumers to driving down emissions, the benefits this fuel has for our nation are tangible and impossible to ignore,” Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the American Gas Association, told the DCNF. “Any push to ban natural gas would raise costs to consumers, jeopardize environmental progress and deny affordable energy to underserved populations.”
On February 1, the Department of Energy proposed a rule that would tighten energy efficiency standards for newly manufactured gas stoves. On December 14, the Biden administration hosted the White House Electrification Summit, during which the administration announced the Home Electrification Prize, which will “fund innovative solutions to make it easier to efficiently retrofit our homes” with electrical heating to improve indoor air quality.
According to CNN, the Biden administration has denied plans to ban gas stoves. CSPC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. previously stated that “every option is on the table” and that “products that cannot be made safe can be banned.”
