The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is eyeing a regulation to ban gas stoves this year under the guise of combatting indoor pollution. This is an absurd and legally suspect regulation reflective of the liberty-reducing lengths this administration will go to implement its “ban all fossil fuels” approach. 

If Team Biden is going after gas stoves today, you better believe they will soon go after gas fireplaces as well. Climate extremists that have found favor in the Biden administration have been trying to shut down bar-b-ques for years, an argument that often goes hand in hand with a ban on meat. 

The single study used to justify this purported action attempts to link childhood asthma cases to indoor gas stove use. As the American Gas Association points out, the study “is not substantiated by sound science,” and the emissions profile of cooking with natural gas stoves is very similar to the emissions profile of electric stoves.

Initial details on the proposed rule suggest this ban will apply to new stove installation and could come out as early as March 2023. But the proposal originated with Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr.—son of the late labor union organizer and AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka Sr. 

“This is a hidden hazard,” Trumka Jr. said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

Trumka proposed the idea during last month’s U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) webinar. PIRG is putting pressure on lawmakers to ban gas stove use.

The American Gas Association pushed back the idea citing natural gas stoves as safe, ubiquitous, and the preferred stove used by professional chefs. 

“Natural gas bans can make housing more expensive. All electric homes require expensive retrofits, potentially driving up the overall cost of housing significantly,” the trade association noted

The Biden administration certainly welcomes this push. Consumers who switch from gas to electric stoves could be eligible for an $840 rebate under the “Inflation Reduction Act.” 

The campaign to ban gas stoves isn’t new. Major cities and states across the country have passed ordinances and laws, respectively, to prohibit gas stoves in new construction citing climate change concerns.

As noted at IWF last summer, “voluntary” natural gas bans are coercive—as is the case with the proposed ordinance in Washington, DC: 

The D.C. City Council unanimously voted for the Clean Energy DC Building Code Amendment Act of 2022. The measure will require ‘all new construction be subject to the District’s voluntary net zero energy standard known as Appendix Z’ by December 31st, 2026. This measure will apply to all new commercial buildings, condominiums, apartment buildings, and single family homes exceeding three stories.

There’s a reason 40 million U.S. households use natural gas stoves. The benefits far outweigh the costs.