Gas stove ban talk roils GOP, its petroleum industry allies
WASHINGTON — Concerns raised by the nation’s top consumer watchdog about the health hazards posed by gas stoves has triggered a sharp rebuke from the oil and gas industry and its Republican allies, inserting a common kitchen appliance into the middle of partisan politics.
Critics were pushing back hard Wednesday against recent comments made by Richard Trumka, a commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, that his agency might take some regulatory action in the face of growing research that links gas stoves to pollutants that harm both human health and the environment.
“This is a hidden hazard,” Trumka said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg News. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
Those words were echoing around a Wednesday breakfast meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, where the oil and gas industry and its supporters in Congress had gathered to discuss the upcoming legislative agenda.
“Gas stoves are very important and we need to understand what’s being proposed and why,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, who was at the breakfast.
Trumka had tried to quell the firestorm Monday.
“To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that any regulations would apply to new products.
But Republicans remained outraged, with McMorris Rodgers promising to scrutinize the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“We will do oversight,” she said, adding that she questioned some of the newest research linking gas stoves to asthma.
At least one Democrat joined the fray.
“This is a recipe for disaster,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., wrote Tuesday on Twitter. “The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner.”
Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said a ban on gas stoves was “not going to happen.”
He predicted a backlash from homeowners across the country. Gas stoves are used in about 35% of households nationwide, or about 40 million homes.
Researchers have increasingly documented significant indoor air pollution and negative health effects from gas stoves.
A study published in December estimated that gas-burning stoves are responsible for 12.7% of childhood asthma in the country. Gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter when they are turned on, sometimes at levels that exceed guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization. They also release other harmful air pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer, and can even leak those chemicals when they are turned off.
The debate over proposals to limit the use of gas in homes because of its impact on climate change and public health has grown since 2019, when Berkeley, California, became the first U.S. city to ban gas hookups in most new homes and buildings. Since then, dozens of cities in California and across the country have enacted similar ordinances that target not just gas stoves, but also other gas-fired appliances.
The safety commission has not initiated any proceedings to ban gas stoves and is “not looking to ban gas stoves,” the agency’s chair, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, said in a statement Wednesday.
In the spring, the commission will begin to seek public comment on gas stove hazards and potential solutions for reducing risks.
A White House spokesperson, Michael Kikukawa, said President Joe Biden does not want to prohibit gas stoves.
“The president does not support banning gas stoves,” he said. “And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves.”