A city ordinance introduced in Chicago is considering an outright ban on natural gas for new building projects.
“This is a matter of real survival and the future of our city — and especially our economic future,” the bill’s sponsor, Alderman Maria Hadden, told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re being forced in this direction by nature, but also by policy and by business and industry. People are making these decisions because it’s economical, it’s healthier, it’s safer.”
The measure, known as the Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance, was denounced by the American Gas Association. “From providing affordable energy to consumers to driving down emissions, the benefits this fuel has for our nation are tangible and impossible to ignore,” the body’s President told the Tribune in a statement. “Any push to ban natural gas in Chicago would raise costs to consumers, jeopardize environmental progress, and deny affordable energy to underserved populations.”
The announcement was also condemned by Peoples Gas, a utility provider in the Windy City. “We believe this proposed ordinance is a terrible idea for Chicago. It would increase costs and risk reliability for everyone, especially during the coldest days of the year like we are seeing this week,” the company said in a statement. Peoples Gas argued that switching to an electric heating source could double the energy costs of residents.
Last January, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) assured that the agency had no plans to ban gas stoves after one official suggested they created health issues for Americans.
“Over the past several days, there has been a lot of attention paid to gas stove emissions and to the Consumer Product Safety Commission,” Chairman Alexander D. Hoehn-Saric wrote in a statement at the time. “To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.”
Agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. had originally told Bloomberg that fears over air quality caused by gas stoves were creating “a hidden hazard.” “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned,” Trumka Jr. told the outlet.
The comments came following Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and Representative Don Beyer (D., Va.) urged CPSC to investigate the issue’s allegedly disproportionate impact on black, Latino, and low-income households.
Gas stoves fell into the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s crosshairs following an academic journal article published in December 2022, finding that 12.7 percent of childhood asthma cases were linked to its usage in households. The paper went on to parallel the “childhood asthma burden” produced by gas stoves being equivalent to secondhand smoke exposure.
The American Gas Association responded to the publication by challenging the robustness of the study. “The claims made,” a statement noted, “are derived from an advocacy-based mathematical exercise that doesn’t add any new science. The authors conducted no measurements or tests based on real-life appliance usage, emissions rates, or exposures, and did not adequately consider other factors that are known to contribute to asthma and other respiratory health outcomes.”
West Virginia’s Democratic senator Joe Manchin agreed, sharing his frustration on social media. “This is a recipe for disaster. The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner. I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave my house is the gas stove that we cook on,” Manchin wrote.
The news coincided with New York governor Kathy Hochul’s state-of-the-state address, which called for eliminating gas heating and appliances completely in new construction projects by 2030.