Earlier this month, the Biden administration vehemently denied a report that it was working to ban stoves that use natural gas as a means of combatting “climate change.”
CNN noted:
The White House on Wednesday asserted that President Joe Biden does not support a ban on gas stoves after a federal consumer safety official suggested that such a proposal was on the table.
The White House response follows a recent Bloomberg interview with Biden-appointed US Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr., who called the household appliance a “hidden hazard” and said that “any option is on the table” in relations to regulating them.
“Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” Trumpka added. In addition to a ban, other options include “setting standards on emissions from the appliances,” Trumka noted.
Trumka clarified that “CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” but he also added that “regulations apply to new products.”
Thanks for your interest!
To be clear, CPSC isn't coming for anyone's gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products.
For Americans who CHOOSE to switch from gas to electric, there is support available – Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which includes a $840 rebate. https://t.co/fcmWMSSfE5
— Commissioner Rich Trumka Jr. (@TrumkaCPSC) January 9, 2023
Well, it turns out that, yes, the push to eliminate gas stoves is real after all, according to an exclusive Washington Times report on Thursday.
“Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr.’s threat of a federal ban on gas stoves this month has channeled the goals of left-wing billionaire think tanks that are making significant progress in pushing communities to eliminate fossil fuels,” the report began.
“A web of environmental groups is stepping up the campaign to persuade states and local communities to switch to all-electric energy. The Rocky Mountain Institute, the Sierra Club and other green groups are working successfully to ban gas stoves and other gas appliances in communities throughout the U.S. as part of an aggressive move to implement a net-zero global economy by 2050,” the report noted further.
The paper noted that the effort began in earnest “in July 2019 during a two-day meeting hosted by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund at the Rockefeller family mansion in Pocantico, New York.” Government officials, as well as green groups, comingled at the event. Representatives from groups like the Rocky Mountain Institute, the Georgetown Climate Center and the Energy Foundation were at the meeting, and the Times indicated the agenda was clear — pushing for more all-electric use as climate advocates seek to end all uses of fossil fuels no matter what it does to the country’s economy or how badly unprepared the national grid is to handle the additional load.
State government officials who attended were mostly from deep-blue, far-left states: “Dale Bryk, then New York state’s deputy secretary for energy and environment; Nik Blosser, then chief of staff in the Oregon governor’s office; Janet Coit, who at the time was director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management; Chris Davis, senior adviser to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee; and Kathleen Frangione, chief policy adviser to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.”
The agenda included “net-zero buildings” and “carbon pricing strategies,” including a carbon tax.
The Times added:
The Rocky Mountain Institute published a study linking gas stoves to asthma a day before Mr. Trumka’s threat to ban gas stoves. The study did not include new research but relied on past studies that had been ridiculed, including one that tested the emissions from a gas stove in a room sealed off entirely with plastic tarps.
Skeptics question the liberal network’s aggressive efforts to force renewable-energy schemes on states and communities. The network is funded by some of the wealthiest Americans, some of whom are heavily invested in green energy technology.
Critics say the amount of electrification being called for will be prohibitively expensive to implement, raise the cost of energy, and put an unmanageable strain on the power grid.
“Eco-activist groups are the left’s best way to push unpopular climate and energy policies on the country, which is why they’re among the best-funded organizations in Washington politics,” Hayden Ludwig, a senior investor at the Capital Research Center, told the Times. “What’s frightening is that eco-activists are in the driver’s seat of Biden’s agenda, making climate extremism part of every federal agency’s priorities. That includes expanding the war on coal to a crusade against the natural gas heating our homes, fueling our stoves, and powering our electric grid. They’ve already gained victories in Massachusetts, New York and California, but won’t stop there.”
