Yesterday we looked at the federal government’s suggestion that they may either ban all gas stoves in the country or require expensive emission control modifications. This is supposedly being done as a public health measure, but under the covers, it seems like yet another covert attempt to eliminate fossil fuel use in America. 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. During her State of the State speech yesterday, Hochul pledged to not only do away with gas stoves but all natural gas appliances over the next decade. Thankfully, the ban would only apply to new construction projects in the initial phases. (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 during her state-of-the-state address Tuesday to ban the use of fossil fuels by 2025 for newly built smaller structures and 2028 for larger ones. 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 prohibit gas furnaces, water heaters, and emergency generators as well. 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 initially.) Each new building that goes up will have all electrical appliances, so that will just put more of a strain on the already-struggling 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. More than half of the buildings in New York use one or more 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.

Meanwhile, the pushback against the report claiming that natural gas stoves pose a health hazard continues. Fox Business is reporting that the American Gas Association (AGA) is “clapping back” at these accusations and bringing along the science to back up its claims. They also point to the biased nature of the group sponsoring 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 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. But as we pointed out here yesterday, they do appear to have science on their side. 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. There should be plenty of time because nobody is talking about instituting such a ban immediately. And even if they tried, the effect on tens of millions of families and businesses, not to mention the economy, would be staggering. I don’t think that anyone, even the Biden administration, is foolish enough to rush such a thing through.