Earlier this month the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) created a flurry of controversy over a rumored proposal to restrict the use of gas-powered stoves in homes. While the CPSC walked back the initial comments made by one of its five CPSC commissioners, some state and local leaders were quick to express concern over the idea of banning gas-powered stoves in residential buildings. Conservative lawmakers such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) used the incident to attack the Biden Administration and accuse the CPSC of overreach.
While fears over the federal proposal appear to have been overblown, state and local lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been active on the issue in recent years. Legislation has emerged in various jurisdictions that seeks to ban natural gas in new construction, while opponents are pushing legislation that forbids cities from banning natural gas in new commercial buildings. In 2019, Berkeley, California became the first city in the country to ban natural gas in new buildings. Following that several other cities — Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. —adopted rules that would either ban or limit the use of natural gas in new residential and commercial buildings.
On the state level, in 2022, Washington became the first state to adopt rules revisions to its energy code that would require new commercial buildings to use heat pumps for space heating. California followed suit when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved its plan to phase out natural gas burning heaters and appliances in new buildings. And late last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) backed a statewide proposal to ban natural gas for new buildings in the Empire State.
With the 2023 legislative session well underway, bills seeking to ban natural gas for commercial use have already been introduced in several states. A Massachusetts bill (MA SB 144) would require new buildings to be all-electric, granting exemptions to fueling service stations and buildings with emergency energy backup systems in place. A pair of New York bills (NY AB 920 & NY SB 562), meanwhile, would phase in a natural gas ban for new buildings by requiring buildings less than seven stories tall to be all-electric by 2025 and buildings taller than seven stories to be all-electric by July 2028.
On the other side of the issue, many conservative Republican lawmakers have attempted to counter local efforts to pass natural gas bans through enacting local preemption legislation prohibiting such acts. As of January 2023, 20 states — Alabama (AL HB 446), Arkansas (AR SB 127), Arizona (AZ HB 2686), Florida (FL SB 856), Georgia (GA HB 150), Indiana (IN HB 1191), Iowa (IA HF 555), Kansas (KS SB 24), Kentucky (KY HB 207), Louisiana (LA SB 492), Mississippi (MS HB 632), Missouri (MO SB 230), New Hampshire (NH SB 86), Ohio (OH SB 127), Oklahoma (OK HB 3619), Tennessee (TN SB 1934), Texas (TX HB 884), Utah (UT HB 17), West Virginia (WV HB 2842) and Wyoming (WY SF 152) — have preempted localities from prohibiting the sale of natural gas to customers. This year, lawmakers in Oregon (OR SB 647) and North Dakota (ND HB 1234) hope to join these states through similar measures that would preempt local natural gas bans.
The debate over natural gas is only expected to grow as climate advocates push for policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase the rate of electrification throughout the country. Efforts to limit natural gas from being used for heating and cooking purposes have, for now, fallen mainly on residential buildings, but proponents are expected to continue pushing for “all the above” approaches that include commercial buildings as well.
