Biden Administration Responds After Federal Agency Suggests Gas Stove Ban

A kitchen gas stove burner at a residential property in Melbourne, Australia, on June 16, 2022. Joel Carrett/AAP Image

The White House on Jan. 11 said President Joe Biden doesn’t support a ban on natural gas stoves, after a consumer safety official suggested a ban is on the table for a meeting later this year.

U.S. Consumer Product Safety (CPSC) Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg News earlier this week that natural gas stoves, used by millions of Americans every day, are a “hidden hazard” and said that “any option is on the table.”

“Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” he said, adding that federal agencies could set “standards on emissions from the appliances.” He and Bloomberg cited a December 2022 study published by the think tank, Rocky Mountain Institute, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, that claimed: “12.7 percent of current childhood asthma in the U.S. is attributable to gas stove use.”

Some medical experts questioned the study’s conclusions after Trumka’s remarks. Dr. Ran Goldman, a pediatrics professor at the University of British Columbia, said the study was merely “a calculation of what could be causing asthma in children.”

“This is not a true representation of what is happening and there is a huge uncertainty around how many children with asthma are truly because of those emissions. Asthma is a multifactorial disease,” he told GlobalNews. “It’s a disease we’re still studying because it’s so complex.”

Not ‘Coming for Anyone’s Gas Stoves’

But the White House told news outlets on Jan. 11 that the administration isn’t looking to implement a federal ban on new gas stoves.

“The President does not support banning gas stoves—and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves,” the White House told news outlets.

CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said on Jan. 11 that he isn’t “looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so,” adding that the agency is “researching gas emissions in stoves and exploring new ways to address health risks. CPSC also is actively engaged in strengthening voluntary safety standards for gas stoves.”

In the spring, the agency will “be asking the public to provide us with information about gas stove emissions and potential solutions for reducing any associated risks,” he added.

And Trumka, the son of the late union boss Richard Trumka, walked back his comments to Bloomberg on Twitter on Jan. 9, saying the agency “isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves.”

“My guiding duty is protecting consumer health and safety. Gas stoves can emit dangerous level of toxic chemicals—even when not in use,” Trumka wrote.

Sens. Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren, as seen in a file photo, recently asked the CPSC about natural gas stove impacts. Mike Segar/Reuters

A ban on natural gas appliances wouldn’t be unprecedented. California’s Air Resources Board recently voted to implement a ban on new gas-powered furnaces—similarly claiming there’s a link between gas and respiratory problems among children—the state’s public utilities commission in September 2022 unanimously voted to remove subsidies to builders for installing natural gas lines for new buildings beginning this year, and several cities in the state have banned new gas appliances.

A group of federal lawmakers, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote a letter (pdf) to the CPSC expressing concerns about “risks posed to consumers” about emissions generated by natural gas stoves. They claimed that black, Hispanic, and low-income individuals are disproportionately affected by those alleged risks.

Criticism

Following the Bloomberg interview, Republicans quickly criticized the Biden administration. Natural gas industry officials issued similar comments, with the American Gas Association saying in a statement this week that the December 2022 study is “not substantiated by sound science.”

“Over 40 million American households use gas stoves,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) wrote. “This type of power should never have been given to unelected bureaucrats and it is time for it to end.”

Palmer added that “unelected bureaucrats should not have the type of power to even consider such an action” and called for a reigning in of the “Biden administration and their continual desire to control American’s lives and decisions.”

Industry officials also have said that a ban on gas cooking appliances would make housing more expensive because homes require retrofits to use electric stoves.