Let’s round out the year with a bit of good news, or at least the potential for something positive following a season where reasons for optimism have been few and far between. Among the many terrible governmental policy shifts seen under the Biden administration, one of the more odious has been the war on gas stoves, a subset of the overall war on fossil fuels and “Things That Work.” The Biden administration and its liberal allies have been hell-bent on shutting down natural gas in parallel with oil and gasoline. The fact that our vaunted Vice President and border czar can’t seem to stop posing next to gas stoves hasn’t deterred them noticeably. Of course, hypocrisy is no longer seen as a badge of shame on the left.
But that’s where the potential good news comes in. A close look at the trends showing up in the news over the second half of the year suggests that the public has reached a tipping point. The efforts to ban gas stoves and natural gas, in general, seem to have backfired. All reputable polling indicates that people are pushing back on this nonsense and an increasing number of states are enacting legislation designed to protect access to natural gas, including gas stoves. Steve Everley has assembled a roundup of these news items and posted it in a lengthy Twitter thread this week. We’ll cover some of the highlights here.
As a reminder, many of the studies in recent years linking gas stoves to health threats relied on dubious methodologies (i.e. encasing kitchens in plastic sheets), were funded by groups pushing gas stove bans, or both.
— Steve Everley (@saeverley) December 28, 2023
Here’s a short summary:
But polling throughout the year reveals an interesting fact: opposition to a gas stove ban only grew as activists pushed their wild claims. In January, for example, a YouGov poll found a 50/50 split among voters when asked if they supported a gas stove ban. By June, a national poll found 69% of Americans opposed a ban, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Other polls throughout the year showed majority opposition to a ban, and one poll released this fall – which was done in partnership with a pro-electrification group – found less than one-third of voters supported ditching natural gas appliances.
The folks pushing gas stove bans are admitting that they are getting “creative” with their agenda, since the courts have ruled bans are illegal and (per the above) voters oppose them. As Grist recently noted: “Cities and states like Seattle; Ashland, Oregon; and Washington state are sidestepping Berkeley’s legal challenges by finding creative alternatives to banning gas outright — including by setting emissions targets, updating building codes, and restricting indoor air pollution.”
ICYMI: Boston recently decided to pull out of an application process for a program to ban fossil fuels in new construction. Last month, the Boston Globe conducted a (non-scientific) reader poll on its website and found that 73% of respondents supported Boston’s decision. Readers commented with things like “the reality is we need natural gas” and “we are in no way ready to abandon fossil fuels completely.” Others stressed the importance of protecting choices for builders and homeowners.
In 2024, pay attention to building codes. The Biden administration recently announced hundreds of millions of dollars to help local governments update their building codes, which is exactly what activists are using to ban natural gas without using the word “ban.” This is also an interesting space since the administration (and many in the media) insist the federal government is not trying to ban gas stoves. Good coverage from Fox News and the Daily Caller on that.
As of October, 25 states – half the country! – have adopted laws that protect consumer access to natural gas, with nearly a dozen more considering such laws, according to a tally by S&P Global (scroll down for the map).
The pushback has been impressive. Half of the states in the country have bucked the administration and passed laws protecting consumer access to natural gas. At least ten others are currently debating similar legislation. This is quickly turning into the latest battlefront in the red vs. blue war unfolding in the nation. We may be heading toward a future where a small number of blue states will have laws banning things that work while the rest of the country fights to ensure some semblance of normality remains in our lives.
Pay particular attention to the second-to-last bullet point in Steve’s list above. Bans on natural gas have not fared well in the courts in nearly all cases. The government has failed to show that the use of fossil fuels poses a significant threat to the future of mankind when compared to the disruption and damage that such bans would generate. This has forced the liberals to get “creative” in finding ways to impose such bans without actually using the word “ban.”
They have been doing this through changes to building codes and other civil regulations. They can’t make the use of natural gas or oil illegal, but they believe that they can forbid construction projects where the infrastructure required to deliver natural gas is forbidden. This works out the same as a ban in all but name. New York has been leading the charge on these building code alterations, but the rules are already being challenged in court by construction companies and activists. These efforts may eventually fail also, but the process is more complex and will need to be sorted out as we move forward.
Continuing to educate the public will be a key element in the ongoing battle. The collapse of the market for electric vehicles is a leading indicator of the reality that people do not like having the government eliminate things that work and make modern life possible. The same goes for gas stoves. Natural gas works and our nation sits atop an ocean of it so we don’t have to rely on China or other nations for our energy needs. The climate alarmists don’t really believe that eliminating gas stoves or gas-powered vehicles will make an appreciable difference in the planet’s future climate. If they did, they wouldn’t be flying in private jets to their global warming conferences. What they really want is the ability to limit people’s freedom of movement and independence, making everyone increasingly reliant on Big Brother for their survival. That’s simply not a winning message for a nation that values freedom and independence above everything else. Keep up the good fight, folks. You’re on the right side of history.
