New York to Ban All Gas Appliances, Not Just Stoves

Yesterday We examined the federal government’s suggestion that they may either ban all gas stoves in the country or require expensive emission control modifications. Although this is being done to protect public health, it appears like another covert effort to reduce America’s fossil fuel use. That move, if it happens, clearly won’t be enough for the state of New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul will always try to bring her green energy one-upmanship game to the table. Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her State of the State address. Hochul pledged Gas stoves can be eliminated not only All Over the next decade, natural gas appliances. Fortunately, the ban will not be applicable to the first phases of new construction. (Bloomberg)

Governor Kathy Hochul is proposing to make New York the first state in the US to ban natural gas heating and appliances in new buildings, the latest salvo in an ongoing nationwide fight over the fuel.

Hochul called Tuesday’s state-of the-state address to ban fossil fuels beginning in 2025 for smaller buildings and 2028 for larger structures. New York would also prohibit the sale of any new fossil-fuel heating systems starting in 2030.

As I mentioned above, we’re not just talking about stoves in people’s kitchens and restaurants. This ban would also apply to gas furnaces and water heaters. So if you’re in a building that runs entirely on electric heaters and the power goes out during the winter, well… best of luck.

The fact that the ban would only apply to new construction projects initially means that the situation won’t be quite as bad as those monitoring the energy crisis might fear. (At least, not initially.) All new buildings will include electrical appliances. This will increase the strain on the already stressed electrical grid. Of course, most of that electricity is still produced by fossil fuels, but let’s not quibble over the details and upset Kathy Hochul further.

At the same time, however, Hochul’s green dreams will not produce nearly the impact that she’s suggesting in terms of climate issues. New York has more than half its buildings using gas-powered appliances. Since they aren’t initially impacted by this, the natural gas pipelines will still be in place and all of those buildings will continue to burn natural gas until the appliances all die a natural death. New York will not be 100% free of fossil fuels by 2030 or really even anywhere close to it, despite the Governor’s lofty promises.

However, there is still a lot of resistance to the report alleging that natural gas stoves can pose a danger to health. Fox Business Is reporting American Gas Association (AGA), also known as: “clapping back” They are furious at the accusations and bring along the science supporting them. They also mention the biased nature the group behind the controversial report.

“A December 2022 report in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health linking natural gas cooking with asthma is not substantiated by sound science.” the AGA said in a press release Tuesday…

The AGA has previously pushed back against Trumka’s comments, saying that the emissions from cooking with gas are similar to emissions created when cooking with electric stoves and that they plan on submitting evidence to prove it.

“Any discussion or perpetuation of the allegations in this report which is funded by non-governmental organizations to advance their agenda to remove consumer energy choice and the option of natural gas is reckless.” The AGA has been added.

Yes, it’s easy enough to point to the fact that the AGA has a vested interest in supporting the use of clean, affordable natural gas, so taking a position like this may seem predictable. We pointed this out yesterday. They do seem to have science in their favor. If there was an identifiable link between natural gas stoves and incidents of childhood asthma or any other respiratory illnesses, don’t you suppose someone would have noticed that over the past half-century or so?

We’ll see what sort of studies the AGA offers up in the next week or so. Because nobody wants to ban smoking immediately, there should be plenty of time. Even if they did, the impact on the economy and tens of thousands of families would be devastating. I don’t think that anyone, even the Biden administration, is foolish enough to rush such a thing through.