A Chicago Democrat plans to propose a bill effectively banning natural gas in new buildings — a move that would follow in the footsteps of other liberal cities trying to prohibit gas stoves in new homes.
Officials in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and New York City have pursued restrictions on gas-powered furnaces, ovens and stoves. In Chicago, Alderwoman Maria Hadden plans to introduce her own proposal Wednesday setting emissions standards that appliances using natural gas can’t meet, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“This is a matter of real survival and the future of our city — and especially our economic future,” Hadden told the outlet. “We’re being forced in this direction by nature, but also by policy and by business and industry.”
Supporters of banning gas-powered products have argued that eliminating or reducing natural gas hookups would reduce carbon emissions and help meet climate goals. Indoor gas stoves were also associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma, according to a 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
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“People are making these decisions because it’s economical, it’s healthier, it’s safer,” Hadden told the Chicago Tribune.
New York, in 2023, became the first state to pass a ban on natural gas connections in new buildings. Hookups will be banned in smaller buildings starting in 2026 and in larger buildings in 2028, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert said natural gas is a cost-effective solution for Americans.
“From providing affordable energy to consumers to driving down emissions, the benefits this fuel has for our nation are tangible and impossible to ignore,” American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert told the Chicago Tribune in a statement. “Any push to ban natural gas in Chicago would raise costs to consumers, jeopardize environmental progress and deny affordable energy to underserved populations.”
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But Citizens Utility Board Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said going fully electric would save consumers money, the Chicago Tribune reported. She pointed to a 2022 Energy Futures Group anaylsis that found going electric could save Chicago residents between $11,000 and $24,000 over a 20-year period.
“Status quo with regards to heating in Chicago is unsustainable in almost every sense of the term,” Moskowitz told the outlet. “People’s gas bills are already extremely high, the gas utility is trying to get rate increases, people are paying a minimum of $50 a month before they even use any gas, and we have vast swaths of the city structurally unable to afford their heating bills.”
