The Los Angeles Times editorial board claimed in a column on Thursday that Republican lawmakers are clinging to the “past” with their opposition to a gas stove ban, arguing that the world is “going all-electric” whether “fossil-fuel-supporting politicians like it or not.”
The piece, titled “The Save Our Gas Stoves Act? That’s GOP pro-fossil-fuel foolishness,” argued that Republicans are trying to restrict the government from protecting Americans from gas leaks and indoor pollution with a number of GOP bills aimed at curbing federal regulations that target gas stoves.
“The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and the Save Our Gas Stoves Act amount to little more than political posturing. Yet the measures show how much Republicans are trying to cling to the polluting fossil fuel technology of the past in a world that is slowly but surely going all-electric,” the editorial board wrote.
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The GOP legislation to prevent a gas stove ban is a response to a “non-existent problem,” the piece argued, claiming that the idea that the government is trying to “seize people’s gas stoves” or “ban them” is “unfounded.”
“The legislation purports to respond to a nonexistent problem: The unfounded fear that the feds are trying to seize people’s gas stoves (which they’re not) or ban them (they’re not doing that, either),” the board claimed. “These bills would needlessly hamper regulators by preventing them from setting standards to keep Americans safe from gas leaks and indoor pollution and saving them money by increasing energy efficiency in the kitchen — as they have done with little controversy for decades for every type of home appliance you can imagine.”
The controversy over a gas stove ban began after Consumer Product Safety Commission Richard Trumka Jr. suggested that the idea was “on the table” on Jan. 9. The idea was championed by Democrats, but both Trumka and CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric later backtracked on the suggestion once it received backlash on social media.
The piece comes after Fox News Digital released internal communications earlier this month showing that the Biden administration has been quietly contemplating regulating natural gas-powered stovetops for at least a year, far earlier than previously known.
The communications, obtained via information request, revealed that the little-known four-member Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was actively exploring legal justifications for regulations impacting gas stoves last summer.
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Still, the editorial board suggested that GOP lawmakers are supporting baseless measures that will make Americans more vulnerable to pollution while “propping up the fossil fuel industry.”
“This move is not an entirely hollow gesture because it’s part of a broader GOP-led push to restrict government’s power to protect people from pollution while propping up the fossil fuel industry,” they wrote. “It aligns squarely with the interests of oil and gas companies that have successfully blocked efforts by states to ban new gas hookups, improve energy standards and otherwise prevent states and cities from switching to more efficient electric appliances fueled by clean, renewable energy.”
“It’s a transition that is going to happen whether fossil-fuel-supporting politicians like it or not,” the piece continued. “There’s been mounting evidence of the health risks of gas stoves, including a recently published study by Stanford University researchers who tested them in homes in California and Colorado and found they emit unhealthful levels of benzene, a cancer-causing pollutant, that can linger indoors for hours and reach higher concentrations than in secondhand cigarette smoke. It’s only the latest research to find dangerous levels of health-damaging air pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, inside homes with gas stoves, even when they are turned off.”
The editorial board accused Republicans of making a “sober, science-based discussion” into another wedge issue.
“But such efforts show they care more about defending the fossil fuel industry than protecting people’s health and lowering utility bills,” the board concluded, claiming that GOP priorities are “wildly misplaced and should be laughed out of the chamber.”
The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, introduced by Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., would bar federal dollars from going toward regulatory efforts to ban gas stoves. The second bill, the Save Our Gas Stoves Act, from Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., would block the Department of Energy from implementing tougher conservation standards on stoves.
Both pieces of legislation have been opposed by the White House.
Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.
