North Carolina House Advances Bill Prohibiting Natural Gas Ban in Local Government

A flame burns on a gas stove in New York on April 28, 2023. Photo Illustration by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

North Carolina lawmakers have advanced a bill prohibiting city and county governments from banning the use, purchase, and sale of natural gas-fueled appliances.

According to the bill, local governments can’t adopt ordinances that prohibit neither the expansion of an energy service based on what kind of energy source it is nor the sale or purchase of cooking and heating appliances that rely on natural gas.

Most of the bill’s sponsors are Republicans, with one Democrat, Rep. Michael Wray, supporting the bill.

Republican Rep. Dean Arp, a primary sponsor of the bill, told the News Observer in February that it’s important for consumers to be able to choose how to power their homes and appliances.

“I think it just makes sense,” Arp said. “It’s common-sense legislation. It’s very simple. It doesn’t decide what the policy is; it says who decides the policy.”

Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill in the 2021-22 session, stating, “This legislation undermines North Carolina’s transition to a clean energy economy that is already bringing in thousands of good paying jobs. It also wrongly strips local authority and hampers public access to information about the critical infrastructure that impacts the health and well-being of North Carolinians.”

‘War on American Energy’

Despite many Democrats arguing that the threat of gas stoves being banned is nothing more than a culture-war conspiracy theory, in May, New York became the first state in the country to ban gas-powered stoves, furnaces, and propane heating in new residential buildings.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Republican-led Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act on June 13.

The bill prohibits federal funds used to regulate a gas stove “as a banned hazardous product.”

The law would restrict the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) ability to regulate or ban gas stoves.

Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) said the legislation is to ensure American families that they have access to the energy sources of their choice, while Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) argued that “no one is taking away your gas stove.”

“I just don’t quite understand the energy and hysteria almost in places about gas stoves,” she said.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said the Biden administration has waged war on American energy.

“Now they are targeting gas stoves, the preferred cooking appliance for tens of millions of Americans,” she said.

White House Claims It Doesn’t Support Ban

In January, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden didn’t support the banning of gas stoves.

“And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves,” Jean-Pierre said.  “I just want to be very clear on that. When it comes to the question about safety or the effect of gas stoves, that is not something that we can speak to here at the White House.”

The concern was raised after Richard Trumka, a Biden nominee member of the CPSC, called the appliances a “hidden hazard” in Bloomberg News.

Proponents of climate change argue that methane, the main component of natural gas used to fuel stoves and heat homes, has 80 times more warming power than carbon dioxide in its first two decades in the atmosphere.

According to a Stanford University study touted by Democrats, emissions from gas stoves have the same global-warming impact as half a million gasoline-powered cars and can lead to asthma, coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing within the home.

The North Carolina state Senate approved House Bill 130 last week after adding a measure that would require and regulate the decommissioning of future solar energy facilities after they shut down.

If the bill passes the House, it will also require a vote from the Senate, where Republicans now hold a veto-proof majority.

The Associated Press and Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.