Banning Gas Stoves: From Conspiracy to Policy

A solution in search of a problem? 

By Andrew Moran July 19, 2023 @ Liberty Nation News

This past spring, Republican lawmakers warned the American people that their Democratic colleagues were placing a bullseye on gas stoves in the name of climate change. Allies in the big-box media argued that this was a conspiracy theory designed to fuel the culture war. However, it is no longer a public policy pursuit hallucinated by conservatives and libertarians. Democrats admit they are coming for the kitchen appliance, while the left-leaning activists in the mainstream press assert this is a worthwhile crusade.

Gas Stoves Are Destroying Earth?

The House Subcommittee for Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing July 18 with Geraldine Richmond, the Department of Energy (DOE) Under Secretary for Science and Innovation, taking center stage. The chief talking point throughout her testimony was that the department does not possess the authority to prohibit gas stoves. “DOE cannot require, and is not proposing, that consumers replace those already installed in their homes,” she testified. Instead, Richmond argued that the Energy Department’s proposed rules adhere to the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, including the six-yearly efficiency evaluations mandated by the law.

So, what are the facts? The DOE plans to roll out a set of energy efficiency requirements for cooking appliances by 2027, and, according to its analysis, about half the gas stoves currently on the market will not adhere to the new rules or, therefore, remain eligible for retail sale. While the hope is no doubt to promote electric kitchen equipment, manufacturers will have the option to redesign their gas stoves with features that comply with the proposed regulation.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), the ranking subcommittee member, purported that the hearing was mostly about Republicans protecting “big oil and big gas,” adding that members of the GOP caucus do not understand the White House’s policy. “The climate crisis is here, and it is very, very real,” Rep. Bush stated. “The Biden-Harris administration is not banning gas stoves, nor is it leading a conspiracy to regulate your appliances out of existence.” She also inserted social issues into the conversation, explaining that “the only regulations Republicans fight for are to restrict access to abortion and children’s books.”

But Republicans refused to accept these arguments. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), who headed the hearing, warned that these outlined efficiency standards that extend beyond gas stoves are “a tidal wave of regulatory burdens affecting Americans’ daily lives” that will not achieve much for energy efficiency or cost savings.

“The DOE, however, will argue that saving 12 cents per month — or $1.50 per year — is more than enough reason to reconfigure the entire gas stove industry. If that doesn’t seem like much, well, you can sleep easy knowing that getting rid of your gas stove is saving the planet from climate change,” said Rep. Fallon. “Give me a break. We all know that these rules are a solution in search of a problem.”

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) suggested that the current administration was aiming for a de facto restriction by reducing consumer options and lamented the Energy Department’s ambitious efforts to help households reduce their energy and trim their utility bills. “I’m happy the DOE is out here making sure that we can all save money ‘cause we’re too dumb to figure out how to do it ourselves,” he stated.

A Trip Down Gaslighting Lane

A plethora of MSNBC and CNN personalities went on tirades during their Two Minutes of Hate sessions on broadcast television this past spring, complaining that the right was “stoking ridiculous new freakouts about gas stoves,” and that this was one of many “made-up culture war battles designed to enrage and rile up their right wing and paranoid base.” Then, in May, as part of its broader efforts in the war on natural gas, New York became the first US state to approve legislation restricting the use of natural gas for cooking and heating in new buildings beginning in 2025. Cue the famous Curb Your Enthusiasm music.

The primary argument is that this is a sensible policy to combat climate change. Of course, like many other public policies crafted in the name of saving the planet, the data do not support this claim. In 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration, households burned approximately 92 trillion British thermal units of natural gas in their stoves when Americans were confined to their humble abodes. This accounted for about 2% of residential natural gas consumption, down from 2.9% in 2015. It also accounted for 0.3% of overall US natural gas use, 0.1% of total US energy consumption, and 0.1% of domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Ouch.

Even if this were an intelligent policy backed by science, the American people do not favor the government targeting their gas stoves. A recent Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 69% of US voters oppose rules eliminating or phasing out gas stoves.

C’mon Man

In a Seinfeld episode, “The Hot Tub,” George Costanza pretends to be busy by looking annoyed. By appearing perturbed, he gives the impression to his boss at the New York Yankees that he is working hard. This is sort of how President Joe Biden and his administration behave. They keep telling the public that they are sinking their teeth into crucial issues, like concert tickets and late fees, although the numbers highlight that these are unimportant to voters. Meanwhile, the national average gallon for gasoline is above $3.50, food prices are up nearly 6% from a year ago, and earnings have mostly failed to keep up with the cost of living throughout the Biden presidency. Gas stoves might be public enemy No. 1 in the nation’s capital, but statistics and public opinion polling show this is an unwanted and supercilious endeavor by Washington bureaucrats.

Read More From Andrew Moran

All opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Liberty Nation.

The Federal War Against Your Lifestyle

June 06, 2023/ Francis Menton  @ Manhattan Contrarian

Just a week ago I had a post featuring some recent federal bureaucratic assaults against the well-being and prosperity of the population. The title was “Bureaucrats Completely Incapable Of Making Reasonable Trade-Offs.” The post featured two new rules from different corners of the federal bureaucracy, both announced on May 5: one from EPA effectively mandating electric automobiles by about 2032, and the other from the Department of Energy once again lowering the amounts of energy and water that dishwashers are allowed to use.

I stated in that post that these two new rules were just examples of a much broader federal war against our comfortable and convenient lifestyles. But to get a feel for the big picture, you need a more comprehensive list of the things the feds are trying to restrict and/or eliminate from your life. Now Noah Rothman comes along in the current issue of National Review with a much longer list, in a piece titled “The War on Things That Work.” (Although National Review has a paywall, you should get a free article or two per month, if you want to read the whole piece.)

One thing that Rothman’s list makes clear is that, although the regulations are principally rationalized as part of the fight against “climate change,” there are many respects in which the new restrictions have nothing whatsoever to do with the “climate” issue, even if you believe that greenhouse gases like CO2 are some kind of existential threat to humanity. For example, several of the restrictions in question relate to use of water, rather than energy. Other restrictions relate to the use of energy in the form of electricity, which in other contexts (like automobiles) the climate warriors call “zero emissions.” In the real world electricity is not “zero emissions” at all (because most of it comes from fossil fuels), but the climate warriors claim to believe that it is (because they think fossil fuels can be easily eliminated from the generation process), and if so, reducing the electricity use of various gadgets and appliances is also not a “climate” issue at all.

To underscore the point that most of these regulations have little to nothing to do with the climate issue, Rothman leads off his article with the well-known quote from one-time Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti:

“The interesting thing about the Green New Deal is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.” It was, in fact, “a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.”

So here, gathered from Rothman’s piece, is the list he has put together of some of the “things that work” that the government has currently gone to war against, or is considering going to war against: all appliances using natural gas (furnaces, stoves, hot water heaters, clothes dryers); hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants for air conditioners; dishwashers; lawn mowers and leaf blowers powered by gasoline or other fossil fuels; washing machines; incandescent light bulbs; and plastic bags and straws.

Consider some history of a few of these things:

Gas stoves.

The idea of banning gas stoves had largely proceeded at the local level until early this year. (The first U.S. municipality to ban new gas stoves was Berkeley, CA, in 2019. In April 2023 the federal Ninth Circuit threw out Berkeley’s ban on the grounds that it is pre-empted by federal law. Meanwhile New York has its own ban, put in place earlier this year as part of the state budget and taking effect in 2026.)

But the feds could not resist getting into the act. In January 2023, Richard Trumka, one of the commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, floated the idea of banning gas stoves on the ground that they are a “hidden hazard” because they cause indoor air pollution. (This despite decades of indoor burning of natural gas without any noted health effects.). That remark caused immediate pushback, including from Senators Cruz and Manchin, who proposed legislation to stop any such regulation. Chuck Schumer got into the act, issuing a statement on February 3 saying “you have to laugh at the ‘gas stove ban’ narrative being cooked up by the MAGA GOP.” Sure, Chuck. It took all the way to March 2, 2023 for the CPSC to follow up with a Request for Information, seeking public input on the supposed “chronic hazards associated with gas stoves.” The correct answer is “none,” but you can be sure that the CPSC is being flooded with input from environmental activists demanding that gas stoves be banned. As of now, they say that they have no plans on the table to ban gas stoves; but if you think that that isn’t coming, you are ridiculously naive.

Hydrofluorocarbons refrigerants in air conditioners.

EPA issued its proposed rule on this subject on December 9, 2022. According to the press release, the rule will “Advance Transition to Safer, More Efficient Heating and Cooling Technologies,” and will also save consumers “billions in costs.” Perhaps you are wondering, if the proposed replacement(s) for hydrofluorocarbons are really “safer,” “more efficient,” and will also save consumers big money, how could we be so stupid not to already have adopted these things? Rothman:

Put simply, the rule increases the cost of refrigerants, and those costs are passed on to the consumer. Even the anticipation of that increase has already made it more expensive to install new climate-control units.

Incandescent light bulbs.

Incandescent bulbs are much cheaper to buy than the newer and trendier LED bulbs, but they cost more to operate, and burn out more frequently. That’s a trade-off that different consumers might make differently. It turns out that there is a clear preference among low-income consumers for the incandescent bulbs, undoubtedly because of the cheaper up-front cost. Rothman:

[The] clear preferences of consumers, particularly low-income Americans [is for incandescent bulbs]. In 2018, University of Michigan researchers found that high-efficiency LED light bulbs “are more expensive and less available in high-poverty urban areas than in more affluent locations” and that the cost to upgrade “was twice as high in the highest-poverty areas.”

But the federal regulators are the place where elite preferences get imposed on everyone else, whether they can afford it or not. Rothman provides the following history of the light bulb regulations:

In 2007, George W. Bush signed a law designed to gradually phase out inefficient incandescent light bulbs. Barack Obama accelerated the phase-out by tightening efficiency standards via regulatory mechanisms. In 2019, however, the Trump administration rolled those requirements back, giving incandescent bulbs a new lease on life. But in 2022, Joe Biden’s Department of Energy reimposed Obama-era lumens-per-watt standards designed to finally bury the filament bulb.

Under the current regulations from the Department of Energy, the last date on which sale of incandescent bulbs will be permitted in in August 2023.

CPSC, EPA, Department of Energy. It’s the same thing for all of them: that indescribable thrill of exercising the vast federal power and showing who’s boss and making everybody’s life just a little bit worse by imposing your version of virtue by force. After all, you didn’t go to Washington and dedicate your life and career to writing regulations only to say that everything is already just fine as is. You need to prove that you are a big shot. You need to do something big. Maybe you could impose a lockdown. Failing that, banning some appliances that are cheap and work great would be one hell of a day’s work.

Biden Federal Government Goes Full Suicide Bomber Against America

May 14, 2023/ Francis Menton @ Manhattan Contrarian

From his first days in office, President Biden has promised — threatened — to activate the administrative state at every level to address and solve the “climate crisis.” In the orthodoxy of the Biden/Democrat climate cult, this is to be accomplished by reducing U.S. carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Now, even if you believe that a little more CO2 in the atmosphere is some kind of a problem (it isn’t), there is nothing that the United States can do to have any meaningful impact on that situation, given that countries with populations a large multiple of ours (China, India, Africa) are building coal-fired power plants as fast as they can. Even if we closed our economy entirely and reduced ourselves to eating grass and bugs, the effect on the climate would be zilch.

Meanwhile we have waited through the first two plus years of Bidenism to find out exactly what punishments the administrative state has in mind for us for our sins of prosperity and enjoyment of life. In the last few weeks, we have learned at least part of the answer, in the form of a series of gigantic new regulatory proposals emanating from EPA and other agencies. The answer is, the federal government will become a suicide bomber seeking to blow up and destroy the American economy and the well-being of the American people.

Here are three major regulatory initiatives from the past few weeks, each one supposedly somehow addressing this “climate crisis” thing:

• On April 12, EPA released its proposed rule titled “Multi-Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light- Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles.” This rule essentially makes it impossible for automobile manufacturers to produce anything but fully-electric vehicles within a few years.

• On May 5, the Department of Energy released proposed new “efficiency” standards for dishwashers.

• And then on May 8, EPA released the mother of all regulations, with the endless title “New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule.” This is the long-awaited regulation that seeks a complete transformation of the electricity-generation sector of the economy, toward something that has never been demonstrated to work and whose cost is without doubt a large multiple of the system we now have.

I previously covered the new vehicle rule, really an EV mandate, in this post on May 5. True to form of regulators who treat their subjects with contempt, the rule never explicitly states that the cars we now use are henceforth to be banned. Rather, it is some 262 pages of impenetrable text, which has buried somewhere deep inside a formula (82 g/mile CO2 emissions) that only an industry professional would know effectively bans internal combustion vehicles. All manufacturers are to be forced to comply, irrespective of whether they can do so profitably.

What is the probability that the new EV mandate will put all large U.S. and European automakers out of business in favor of Chinese competitors who have an advantage in the EV segment? The regulators neither know nor care. From Engineering & Technology, May 9:

According to insurers Allianz Trade, China’s decision to invest heavily in EV production over the last 15 years has made it the global leader in this sector. . . . Chinese brands have seen their global market shares climb from less than 40 per cent in 2020 to close to 50 per cent in 2022. This is heavily bolstered by an 80 per cent market share in their densely-populated home country.

In the world of dishwashers, we already have dishwashers that don’t work very well. The reason is regulator-imposed restrictions on use of energy and water. Today, due to these restriction, dishwashers run for more than two hours, and still don’t get the dishes very clean unless you pre-wash them by hand. Well, with the new Energy Department rule, it’s about to get a lot worse. From the WSJ, May 12:

The proposal requires manufacturers to slash water use by a third, limiting machines to 3.2 gallons per cycle, down from the current federal limit of five gallons. New appliances must simultaneously cut estimated annual energy usage by nearly 30%.

And then there is the new power plant rule. This one is 682 pages. Again, it never explicitly says that fossil fuel power plants are banned; it’s just that the emissions standards that they set cannot be met by any fossil fuel plant. The WSJ on May 11 calls the rule a “death sentence” for fossil fuel power plants.

Supposedly the fossil fuel plants can continue to operate if they adopt some means to capture the carbon emissions from their exhaust. I have previously described this idea of carbon capture as a “war against the second law of thermodynamics.” Trying to capture CO2 from power plant emissions requires energy, and the higher the percentage of the emissions you want to capture, the more energy it takes. If you insist on capturing all of the emissions and somehow storing them permanently, it’s going to take more energy than the power plant produces. There has been endless talk about carbon capture for more than a decade, and there is almost nothing in the way of functional carbon capture systems, because as they capture enough carbon to be meaningful, their cost soars out of control.

Will there be any functional replacement for the fossil fuel plants by the time they are forced out of business? This rule doesn’t trouble itself with such matters. That’s for the low status people to figure out. Over here at EPA, we are much too important for that. Our job is to save the planet.

So the regulatory onslaught continues. We are told to expect yet more such regulations, notably in the area of home appliances, in the near future.

Put it all together, and the term “war against the economy” no longer does justice to what is going on. This is a full-blown attack by suicide bombers. They are so crazed with the righteousness of their cause that they couldn’t care less about the destruction and devastation they might cause to the innocent people around them, let alone even about their own death. Who ever thought our federal government would get into such a role?

Gas Stoves Are the New Enemy of the Left, Part III

By Rich Kozlovich

On Thursday, January 19, 2023 I published this piece, Gas Stoves Are the New Enemy of the Left saying: 

They claim this is a long journey to regulate gas stoves, which just so happens exist in about 40% of American homes.  But the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a left wing fever swamp if there ever was one, thinks it has the right to ban them!  Imagine that!  And they're not even an agency, they're a "Commission", whatever that means, but they're definitely not Congress, and guess what?  Americans are really upset about it.  Imagine that!

I went on to say:

Well, the kick back has been massive and fierce.  Guess what?  The Democrats are loudly denying they ever wanted such a stupid thing.  But is that reality?  Now all of a sudden these "not passed laws", called regulations, will only apply to new gas stoves.  That's a stall, and a temporary one at that.  What needs to be done is eliminate this leftist swamp, called the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and all the swamp creatures infesting those offices.

I ended that article saying:

I can assure you this isn't going away, it will merely be put on the "back burner" by these nitwits waiting for a more convenient time.  Once these activists start something, it's never "off the table". 

On Friday, February 3, 2023 I published this piece,  Gas Stoves are the New Enemy of the Left, Part II stating:

The left is like rust. It never sleeps. And guess what?.............  It turns out the Department of Energy has now taken up this green Kyrie Eleison by proposing "new efficiency rules for natural gas stoves and other consumer cooking appliances", while at the same time claiming:

"we are not proposing bans on either,”............ “The proposed standards would not go into effect until 2027 and cumulatively save the nation up to $1.7 billion. Every major manufacturer has products that meet or exceed the requirements proposed today.”

And now we find proof leftist insanity, just like rust, never sleeps.  We have this I & I Editorial Board February 22, 2023 piece, Biden Is Still After Your Gas Stoves saying:

Shortly after a Biden administration official boasted about how the federal government might ban gas stoves for being “unsafe,” the White House reassured the public that no such ban was in the works. We warned readers at the time not to believe such reassurances because “once this sort of train starts moving there is often no stopping it.” That was in early January. It took less than a month for the Biden administration to prove us right. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy released a proposed rule that, if implemented, would essentially regulate gas stoves out of existence.

What and who are behind this insanity?  Global warming fanatics.  No matter what's being touted, neither safety or efficiency has anything to do with this at all.  These manufactures know a thing or two about how to make the most safe and efficient gas stoves possible, and what this band of misfits in the Biden administration is pushing will effectively make it so "95% of the market would not meet the proposed levels." And this is the tip of the iceberg.  As the article goes on to point out:

So, is this attack on gas stoves just a case of regulators running amok? Don’t believe that for a minute............regulatory actions such as this one … seldom germinate up organically among the career bureaucracy; most often, they are the result of lobbying efforts from outside interest groups. This is no secret.”

One of the biggest problems dealing with these departments and agencies is every time a radical administration takes over they hire the outside radicals as permanent government employees, so they're there as a treasonous "Fifth Column" forever undermining anything that stands against their insane goal to destroy America, and the entire free world, in favor of a socialistic system of governance under the auspices of the most corrupt and incompetent organization the world has ever known.  The United Nations. 

So what's the solution?  We need to eliminate entire departments and agencies of the federal government and in this case the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a left wing fever swamp if there ever was one, and the Department of Energy.  Get rid of the Fifth Columnists, get rid of the problem.  

I will be coming back to this Fifth Column issue, because this is a problem that's ubiquitous.  And based on history, that includes what's going on in the Republican party and the 2024 election.   The real enemy of the left isn't gas stoves?  It's America!  Why is that so hard to grasp? 

Gas Stoves are the New Enemy of the Left, Part II

The left is like rust. It never sleeps.

By Rich Kozlovich

 On Thursday, January 19, 2023 I published this piece, Gas Stoves Are the New Enemy of the Left, saying:

Getting rid of gas stoves in American homes.  So, what's the story? .......... AOC , who claims gas stoves give you brain damage.  "Did you know that ongoing exposure to NO2 from gas stoves is linked to reduced cognitive performance?"  So, that's what's wrong with her?  After all, "Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”  Really?  Well, that sounds rational doesn't it? Actually....no!   That's known to be a logical fallacy called proving a negative.  You can't prove a negative, you can't prove something is safe, you can only prove something is unsafe, and everything has an unsafe factor......

Well it turns out Americans are really upset about it.  Imagine that!  So, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission "backed off" while proclaiming this was a long term issue for them.  Which should have triggered a huge backlash.  I ended that article by saying:

I can assure you this isn't going away, it will merely be put on the "back burner" by these nitwits waiting for a more convenient time.  Once these activists start something, it's never "off the table". 

And guess what?  The bugman was right again.   It turns out the Department of Energy has now taken up this green Kyrie Eleison by proposing "new efficiency rules for natural gas stoves and other consumer cooking appliances", while at the same time claiming:

"we are not proposing bans on either,”............ “The proposed standards would not go into effect until 2027 and cumulatively save the nation up to $1.7 billion. Every major manufacturer has products that meet or exceed the requirements proposed today.”

They make claims of cost savings and efficiency and who knows what all else, but I have no doubt it's like all this other horsepucky the government spews out, so much of which is based on junk science, computer models and speculation.  All in promotion of that secular pseudo-pagan religious movement, The Church of the Warming Globe. 

Banning gas stoves isn't necessary, or even further regulating them.  However, banning the Department of Energy and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission would be a good start at generating real benefits to America if for no other reason then ending the lava flow of scientifically dubious regulations they spew out.  

Gas Stoves Are the New Enemy of the Left

By Rich Kozlovich 

Well, we do have our priorities don't we?  Taxes are out of control along with spending, energy cost are soaring, and international affairs are a disaster, inflation is going up daily, and the government is paying people not to go to work, education in America is a disaster, but we know what's important don't we?  

Getting rid of gas stoves in American homes.  

So, what's the story?  Well, first let's hear from the Nitwit Brigade of the Club For the Galacticly Stupid, starting with  AOC , who claims gas stoves give you brain damage.  "Did you know that ongoing exposure to NO2 from gas stoves is linked to reduced cognitive performance?"  So, that's what's wrong with her?  After all, "Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”  Really?  Well, that sounds rational doesn't it? 

Actually....no!   

That's known to be a logical fallacy called proving a negative.  You can't prove a negative, you can't prove something is safe, you can only prove something is unsafe, and everything has unsafe factors, which means, everything must be banned.  Right?  Is driving safe?  Is swimming safe? Is electricity safe?  What's safe mean?  It's kind of like defining "fair".  It's subject to the whims of regulators.  And most of them are not to be trusted, and most importantly, most of the rule making by bureaucracies isn't Constitutional.   Rules are in effect laws that must be enforced, yet have never been passed by Congress.

They claim this is a long journey to regulate gas stoves, which just so happens exist in about 40% of American homes.  But the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a left wing fever swamp if there ever was one, thinks it has the right to ban them!  Imagine that!  And they're not even an agency, they're a "Commission", whatever that means, but they're definitely not Congress, and guess what?  Americans are really upset about it.  Imagine that!

Well, who in the world ever came up with this creepy and stupid idea?  Maybe it was the electric appliance industry?  How about the Rocky Mountain Institute, which is in cahoots with China's National Development and Reform Commission?  

So this green think-tank, which comprises non-scientists, takes money from China, has a Red Chinese oligarch as board member, and participates in ongoing projects with China's central planners, all under the rubric of "going green." Anyone smell anything stinky here?

Then there's a "creepy cult AOC follows" that partners with the World Economic Forum, all of whom are members of the secular atheistic quasi-pagan Church of the Warming Globe demanding the end of carbon emissions.  The WEF has an unending appetite for global governance, tyrannous global governance.  But, hey, let's not let a silly thing like freedom and human rights interfere.   

Well, the kick back has been massive and fierce.  Guess what?  The Democrats are loudly denying they ever wanted such a stupid thing.  But is that reality?  Now all of a sudden these "not passed laws", called regulations, will only apply to new gas stoves.  That's a stall, and a temporary one at that.  What needs to be done is eliminate this leftist swamp, called the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and all the swamp creatures infesting those offices. 

 Even Senator Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, said:

"If this is the greatest concern that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has for American consumers, I think we need to reevaluate the commission.”

I can assure you this isn't going away, it will merely be put on the "back burner" by these nitwits waiting for a more convenient time.  Once these activists start something, it's never "off the table".