|
Natural gas appliances may have won a spate of legal battles, but electric advocates are regrouping to try to win the war. From Colorado to New York, local officials and climate activists continue to pursue bans on natural gas hookups and appliances such as stoves. But they are also pursuing a carrot approach by creating voluntary, yet attractive neighborhood-scale electrification programs, writes Mika Travis. “I think the initial state of discouragement has evolved into an increased sense of motivation to find ways that work, to find policies that are both acceptable and effective,” Christine Brinker with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project told Mika. Buildings account for 40 percent of the nation’s planet-warming pollution, making the sector a prime target for cuts. The backstory
For a while it seemed that banning natural gas hookups in new buildings was on a roll, with localities proposing the idea across the country. The effort gained steam last year after a peer-reviewed study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that 12.7 percent of childhood asthma cases in the United States can be attributed to gas-burning stoves. The tide turned when comments by a federal appointee about a hypothetical ban on gas stoves ignited a swift political backlash from Republicans (some of whom vowed to defend their fossil-fuel-powered appliances with their lives). Then earlier this year, a federal appeals court ruled that the nation’s first ban in Berkeley, California, violated federal law, chilling similar efforts in other places. Republican lawmakers in 26 states have made banning gas illegal. Electric claps back
While many municipalities are still pursuing traditional gas bans (that are working their way through the legal process), electric advocates are starting to get more creative with other solutions. In the Southwest, for example, advocates are pushing for building codes that allow gas furnaces in new buildings only if there are other energy efficiency measures to offset that pollution. This year, California, Colorado and Washington state passed laws to advance building electrification projects without a gas ban. (And in Washington state, climate activists are challenging a ballot measure that blocked gas bans). The California law allows low-income neighborhoods with aging gas pipelines to choose to electrify rather than replace the pipelines, for example.
| 
