Berkeley halts natural gas ban after legal fight

After a years-long legal battle that garnered national attention, Berkeley’s natural gas ban has fizzled out.

As part of an agreement last week to settle a lawsuit from the California Restaurant Association, Berkeley agreed to immediately halt enforcement of its first-in-the-nation ban on installing natural gas piping in newly constructed buildings.

Berkeley has also “agreed to take steps to repeal the ordinance,” said restaurant association president Jot Condie.

“Every city and county in California that has passed a similar ordinance should follow their lead,” Condie said in a statement.

Farimah Faiz Brown, Berkeley’s city attorney, confirmed that the city has ceased enforcement of the ban, saying cities were “uniquely responsible for protecting their residents” from the climate-change harms posed by burning natural gas.

“Berkeley will continue to be a leader on climate action,” Brown said in a statement.

Fighting climate change has been a primary argument put forward by proponents of such bans. Natural gas burned in homes and businesses accounts for about 10% of California’s planetwarming pollution — and state plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 have relied on phasing out natural gas appliances amid a 90% reduction in demand for natural gas.

Condie said that climate change remains a concern, but that the policy was not the right solution.

Gas ban supporters have also cited public health as a rationale. A 2023 study from Stanford University and nonprofit PSE Healthy Energy found that cooking with gas stoves can expose people to roughly the same cancer risk as breathing secondhand cigarette smoke.