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Lovers of gas stoves can breathe easier, no pun intended. In case you have not heard, a ban on gas stoves was floated by a Biden Administration official last week. No, word of this did not come over the antenna on my tinfoil hat, or from (gasp) social media. According to NBC News , an official with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission proposed a ban on gas stoves, calling them a "hidden hazard."
Of course, this comment was quickly walked back in a "just kidding, nothing to see here" kind of way. And, I do not expect a ban on gas stoves any time soon, but it is important to understand the way things work these days. When a news story seems to come out of the blue, you need to understand that there is always a reason.
Of course, one of the reasons this ban on gas stoves was floated was to give conservatives a new bone to chew on, a distraction. But this was more than that. The same day NBC reported on the ban on gas stoves, Bloomberg News reported that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed banning natural gas in new buildings.
This is nothing new, banning natural gas is an idea that has been floated around for years, including in Minnesota. A ban on natural gas in new construction has already been implemented in several states and cities around the country.
It may seem odd that a push to ban the use of gas comes when the electric grid is under so much pressure. Hold that thought.
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First, I do not want to say I told you so, but in early 2019 I warned that natural gas companies would be targeted in the war on fossil fuels. At the time natural gas producers were a beneficiary of the war on coal, it was not to last.
The foundation for every wacky "green" idea we are seeing today was laid years ago, usually in California. Over three years ago, Reuters ran an article titled "The Next Target in the Climate Change Debate: Your Gas Stove" . This is the way policy is made these days. Float the idea and wait. Be patient, let people slowly accept the crazy and then they will not fight when laws are passed or, in the case of Washington, D.C., when bureaucrats impose their ideology on the rest of us.
We all follow the "science" these days, so a study on the harmful air quality cause by gas stoves was put out late last year. This hints at the real objective. It is not about the stove; it is about indoor air quality. Channeling the Amazing Kreskin, you will hear much more about indoor air quality in coming months. Because the solution is the goal, natural gas is not being banned to save the environment, but because gas usage is harder to control.
Government’s solution in waiting? Monitoring the air quality in our homes, for our own good, of course.
Grande represented the 41st District in the N.D. Legislature from 1996 to 2014. She is CEO of the Roughrider Policy Center, an "innovation over regulation" think tank. She is a wife, mom, grandma, lover of life and Jesus. Opinions are solely her own.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
