The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board warns “Biden Is Coming for Your Gas Stove.”
Coercion in the cause of banning fossil fuels is no vice for the Biden Administration, which is now coming after cooks. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) could soon ban gas stoves.
CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. teased in an interview with Bloomberg News this week that the agency plans to propose new regulations for gas stoves, which could include a ban. “This is a hidden hazard,” Mr. Trumka said. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
Mr. Trumka isn’t worried that gas stoves might cause accidental burns—a hidden hazard for electric range-tops that stay hot long after they’re turned off. Instead, the agency’s purported concern is that gas stoves cause indoor air pollution and asthma, though there’s scant evidence to support such claims.
Even the Environmental Protection Agency says “gas stoves (and gas fireplace inserts) do not require EPA certification. Whether designed to burn natural gas or propane, they burn very cleanly, emitting very little pollution.” It adds that “many cooking appliances and the process of cooking itself can increase levels of indoor PM [particulate matter].”
As the California Air Resources Board explains, “heating oil, fat and other food ingredients, especially at high temperatures” can generate pollutants, and “studies show that air can be unhealthy to breathe when people cook in kitchens with poor ventilation. The best way to ventilate your kitchen is to use a properly-installed, high efficiency range hood over your stove.”
Studies flogged by the climate left don’t account for the effects of ventilation. One even sealed a test kitchen in plastic tarps in an effort to show that gas stoves increase pollution. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood, the most comprehensive global study to date, found “no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis.”
The real hazard isn’t gas stoves but how people use them. Not that this distinction matters to the CPSC, which has a long history of targeting products such as window blinds, IKEA dressers, and Peloton treadmills because of accidents that are the fault of customers. In this case, Mr. Trumka wants to use indoor pollution as a pretext to advance the climate left’s goal of forcing all buildings to use electricity for everything.
It’s not enough to force Americans to buy electric cars. We must all cook on electric stoves too.
The Fox Newsification of a once-serious editorial page is sad to see. This is a serious issue that deserves scrutiny, not sensationalism and alarmism.
First off, there’s zero evidence that President Biden is behind any of this. This is almost certainly a regulatory agency responding to an issue under its remit and proposing regulations to deal with said issue. And, yes, it’s a real issue.
As Shannon Osaka explains at WaPo (“There’s a secret pollution source in 40 million homes. The U.S. may try to ban it.“):
For years, scientists and health advocates have tried to bring attention to a secret source of air pollution sitting in 40 million homes around the United States — which jump-starts childhood asthma, increases the risk of respiratory problems, and emits planet-warming gasses.
It’s the gas stove.
And now, those efforts seem to be gaining traction. On Monday, Richard Trumka Jr., one of the four commissioners of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in an interview that the agency was considering a ban on gas stoves — or, at least, standards around the amount of toxic fumes such stoves can spew into Americans’ kitchens. Some cities — including Los Angeles, Seattle and New York — have already moved to ban gas stoves in certain new homes and apartments. Kathy Hochul (D), the governor of New York, has also proposed banning gas hookups, including for gas stoves, in new buildings in the entire state.
All cooking creates some form of air pollution. But gas stoves are burning natural gas, a mix of methane and other chemicals. That means that when a gas stove is on, it releases not only fine pieces of particulate matter that can invade the lungs, but also nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde — all of which have been linked to various health risks.
Scientists have identified nitrogen dioxide, for example, as contributing to childhood onset of asthma and worsening asthma symptoms. According to one study, children living in a household with gas stoves have a 42 percent increased likelihood of already having asthma and a 24 percent increased risk of developing asthma at some point in their lifetime. Last week, scientists from the clean energy think tank RMI estimated in a peer-reviewed study that 12.7 percent of childhood asthmas could be attributed to living in a household with a gas stove. Some scientists have compared the risks of gas stove use to having a smoker in the home.
The Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have the power to regulate indoor air quality, and homes with gas stoves can often have nitrogen dioxide levels far in excess of EPA outdoor guidelines. The European Union, meanwhile, is currently urging lawmakers to establish indoor air quality regulations across the bloc.
A major contributing factor to childhood asthma has been identified and, not shockingly, regulators across the world are taking steps to solve the problem.
But Americans have been slow to switch to electric or induction stoves— in part because of the efforts of the natural gas industry. Beginning in the 1930s, the gas industry released commercials, advertisements, and slogans connecting “cooking with gas” with culinary bliss. (At one point in the 1980s there was even a catchy, and somewhat cringeworthy, rap video.) In recent years, gas companies have hired PR firms to oppose local bans on gas appliances in new buildings — with representatives sometimes infiltrating neighborhood social media groups.
Now, however, the tide seems to be turning, as the connection between natural gas cooking, climate change, and poor health becomes more visible. Natural gas stoves are not huge emitters of carbon dioxide, but connecting homes to gas lines creates a long-term dependence on fossil fuels that can be hard to break. Research has also shown that gas stoves emit methane — a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide in the short-term — even when they are turned off.
Some consumers have been reluctant to make the shift to electric stoves given the cost of higher-end induction stoves, which offer more versatility that traditional electric ranges. But the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark climate bill passed last year, includes cash to help low- and moderate-income households move away from their gas stoves. Starting later this year, millions of Americans could get up to $840 off the cost of an electric or induction stove.
Now, I’ve never tried an induction stove. I’ve had various electric stoves, both of the traditional coil variety and the smooth glass type, and much prefer gas. Indeed, I paid a decent amount of money to convert a perfectly functional flat electric stove to a gas model in the previous house and had the capacity for a gas cooktop* as a requirement when looking for this one. Still, the fact that they’re a significant indoor pollution hazard is noteworthy.
Second, the solution will almost certainly not be a complete ban on gas stoves but rather improved ventilation requirements. (Which, frankly, should be forthcoming, anyway, in the post-COVID 19 world.)
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency responsible for managing the safety of U.S. consumer products, is not going to ban gas stoves — or even propose any regulations — anytime soon.
“Any regulatory action by the Commission will involve a lengthy process,” a spokesperson said in an email. Agency staff will begin collecting data on gas stove hazards this year, with the aim to propose “solutions to those hazards” later in the year.
Commissioner Trumka also clarified on Twitter that any regulations would apply to new products, not current ones in homes: “CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” he wrote.
The American Gas Association pushed back against the recent research and on natural gas cooking and asthma. “Any efforts to ban highly efficient natural gas stoves should raise alarm bells for the 187 million Americans who depend on this essential fuel every day,” they said in a statement.
But as more and more information emerges about the health risks — and as the Biden administration focuses in on electrifying household appliances across the country — the move from gas to electric may be a question not of “if,” but of “when.”
Again, I’m skeptical that an actual ban will happen given consumer preferences and alternative solutions. But, as Osaka notes, New York is strongly considering it. And neighboring Montgomery County, Maryland just passed, by a 9-0 vote, natural gas heating for new buildings. Interestingly, restaurants and a handful of other categories will be exempt.
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*We ultimately narrowed our search to an area without county utilities, so the overwhelming number of homes here are electric-only.
