Donald Trump is weighing an executive order that would protect consumers who prefer to use natural gas for cooking and heating from federal and state efforts to end their freedom to do so.
The scare tactics against natural gas in the home are a fairly recent phenomenon. Gas has been used in homes extensively since the 1920s without much fuss or alarm. Now we're being told that it's bad for the climate and bad for our health.
Gas stoves lead to 40,000(!) "premature deaths," we're told. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) now says that we must reduce the "indoor air pollution" caused by gas stoves.
In California (naturally), gas stoves will soon come with a tobacco-style warning label on them. Blue states have put a bullseye on gas stoves and heaters and are inviting regulators to take shots at them.
Trump is looking to protect consumer choice in the matter of heating and cooking. Details of the proposed executive order are still being considered but it's likely to mimic congressional efforts to deny funding for state and local initiatives that limit the use of gas appliances in homes.
"It speaks volumes when an order from the White House is needed to stop our own government from banning natural gas furnaces and water heaters," the president of the American Gas Association, Karen Harbert, said in a statement. "Despite the illegal efforts to ban access and use of natural gas, our industry is hard at work to keep life essential energy affordable and reliable especially during the extreme cold we are experiencing right now."
Over 75 million U.S. households use natural gas for at least one appliance, mostly for home or water heat, according to the most recent residential energy consumption survey published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2020.
The survey found that more Americans are also turning to natural gas to cook and dry clothes. Some 47 million households used natural gas for cooking in 2020, up from 39 million in 2015, the survey found.
Roughly two out of every five American homes have a gas stove, the survey found.
Does natural gas really kill you or cause "premature death"? The evidence is lacking. This is really about prohibiting getting energy from fossil fuels and not from the sun or wind. Inventing dangers from natural gas is just one more effort to close off supplies of life-giving fossil fuels.
If you were to add up all the lives saved by natural gas (people who don't die from the cold or excessive heat) vs. the 40,000 premature deaths (!), it's no contest. I'd take my chances with natural gas.
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Dozens of Democratic-controlled cities, including San Francisco and Berkeley, California, have sought to restrict new buildings from using gas stoves as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve indoor air quality. New York state approved a law last month banning natural gas stoves and furnaces in most new buildings.
Those policies have faced legal challenges. Berkeley, the first city to enact such a ban, was barred from enforcing its policy by a U.S. appeals court ruling in 2023. It repealed the rule last year.
In response to those policies, legislators in more than 20 Republican-led states have passed laws that prohibit local governments from restricting gas in buildings, according to S&P Global.
Trump wants to turn those efforts to prevent local and state governments from restricting the use of gas into a national cause. Anything that can be done to prevent the Gavin Newsoms of the world from turning off the lights should be supported.
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