The Biden administration is, in fact, coming for your gas stoves. When the first gas stove ban was floated at the Consumer Product Safety Commission earlier this year, the administration assured everyone that was not at all the goal and you were paranoid for even suggesting it. But suddenly the media is promoting “studies” about the supposed danger of gas stoves. And the Department of Energy has proposed a rule that would ban a large part of the gas stove market, including eliminating several specific gas stove features entirely. Combined with the administration’s other administrative actions to prevent gas infrastructure from being built, gas from being produced, and attacking other gas-powered home appliances, this certainly looks like a whole of government effort to ban the use of natural gas. It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
- IER on gas stoves ban efforts
- VP for Policy Kenny Stein testifying on DOE proposed gas stoves rule
- IER comment on DOE gas stove rule
It’s not just gas stoves, environmental activists are targeting all natural gas appliances, and at the state and local level they have already had numerous successes, though as these bans are tested in court their victories may be short-lived. If you don’t recognize these local campaigns as test beds for future federal action, you haven’t been paying attention to how the environmental left operates. IER tracks these state and local efforts and it is clearly a national coordinated campaign.
The Biden administration, however, is at pains to claim there is no effort to ban gas stoves, despite the multi-part attack, because they know it’s bad politics. Voters do not like to be told what they can and can’t buy. They do not want to be forced to pay for more expensive appliances, or in the case of stoves even needing expensive remodeling. This attitude is consistent in polling, including in the most recent polling on these issues from the American Energy Alliance. Voters simply don’t trust the government to make these important quality-of-life decisions.
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