(VitalNews.org) – Under the umbrella of a budget deal and in the name of climate action New York Governor Kathy Hochul has moved to ban natural gas hookups for new construction builds in New York beginning in 2025.
Small buildings will start the rollout of the natural gas ban and larger builds will have the same outcome by the year 2028 in the proposal. Hochul is championing New York as a leader in the movement to ban natural gas hookups and advance the climate agenda in all New York households.
The budget proposal by Hochul may be the first to ramp up Democrat-led states’ bans on natural gas, but numerous cities in Democratic strongholds have already paved the way for the more invasive rules on using natural gas from coast to coast. San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City have a collective of more than 10 million Americans between them and all have embraced and codified a variety of restrictions in their cities.
In January of 2023, the Biden administration was forced to walk back comments considering a ban on gas appliances at the federal level when broad criticism forced them to back down. The ban was considered when a dubious study linked 12% of asthma in children to emissions from gas stoves.
An estimated 60% of households across New York State heat and cook in their homes with natural gas and a further 20% use heating oil in 2021 according to the Energy Information Administration, notable data in the study reveals only 14% of households heat with electricity powered by natural gas power plants.
Public feedback is currently being accepted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding gas stoves’ impact on health. They denied intentions to ban the appliance but didn’t rule it out, igniting pushback from conservative Americans across the country.
A statement in January 2023 from the American Gas Association said the effort to ban natural gas appliances should “raise alarm bells for the 187 million Americans” depending on natural gas, an “essential fuel” that everyday Americans use in their homes. Their statement cites a reduction of 69% in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990.
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