The Washington area\u2019s dominant natural gas provider is joining a growing national resistance by fighting an imminent ban on gas stoves for new construction in Montgomery County, Maryland.
\n\u201cWashington Gas has been providing safe, affordable, reliable and secure energy to our customers across the region for almost 175 years, and our goal is to continue to meet the region\u2019s energy needs now and in the future,\u201d utility spokesman Andre Francis told The Washington Times.
\nSince 2019, Washington Gas has printed 11 templates of a real estate yard sign for builders in Montgomery County to promote the benefits of gas stoves, the utility told The Times. Each sign includes the name and phone number of the builder above a placard that proclaims \u201cnatural gas available\u201d as part of a \u201cco-branded marketing program,\u201d Mr. Francis said.
\nResidents say the signs started appearing outside new homes after county officials moved at the end of last year to implement the East Coast\u2019s first countywide ban on gas stoves, beginning in 2026.
\n\u201cThe signs started appearing around Christmas, when the gas issue was getting a lot of attention,\u201d said Robert Dyer, a real estate blogger who writes about county housing trends.
\nNationwide, at least 75 cities and counties have introduced legislation to ban natural gas in new construction, according to the American Gas Association.
\nYet 20 states \u2014 including Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire and Arizona \u2014 have enacted \u201cenergy choice\u201d laws protecting the rights of homeowners to use gas-powered systems, the association said.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re working and trying to rally the whole housing community, both providers and stakeholders, to demand that before these regulations go into place, somebody give us the evidence as to why they\u2019re needed,\u201d said Gerald Howard, CEO of the Washington-based National Association of Home Builders.
\nJurisdictions that have banned gas stoves note that the appliances leak methane, a greenhouse gas that environmentalists say contributes to climate change.
\n\u201cMethane \u2026 has 80 times the warming potential over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide. From fracking to transport through pipelines to use in homes or power plants, that methane leaks into the atmosphere, fueling disastrous climate change,\u201d Amneh Minkara, an electric heating advocate at the Sierra Club, said in an email.
\nMeanwhile, the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law last year, provides federal funds to help jurisdictions convert gas appliances to electricity. The D.C. Council has introduced legislation that would make those tax dollars available to install electric stoves for households earning less than $80,000 a year.
\nNatural gas proponents have disputed the need for such laws.
\n\u201cAny push to ban natural gas would raise costs to consumers, jeopardize environmental progress and deny affordable energy to underserved populations,\u201d the American Gas Association said in an email.
\nRoughly 187 million Americans and 5.8 million businesses \u2014 well over half the nation \u2014 use natural gas daily, according to the Washington-based trade group, which represents more than 200 utilities.
\nNatural gas saved those homes and commercial buildings more than $650 billion over the past decade compared with electric heating costs, the association said. The group cites government data showing that gas heating is 92% energy efficient, compared with electricity\u2019s 38% efficiency.
\n\u2018The market wants gas\u2019
\nAbout 1.1 million people live in Montgomery County, which adjoins the nation\u2019s capital and is Maryland\u2019s most populous county. Most homebuyers there don\u2019t want electric appliances, real estate agents and builders say. They noted a recent uptick in pro-gas property listings.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen more people mentioning gas stoves in their real estate listings because of the new law,\u201d said real estate agent Pat Kilner, whose Potomac brokerage has sold homes in the county for 19 years. \u201cIt\u2019s capitalizing on the news of the time, and maybe that\u2019s good marketing for whatever percent of the population really wants a gas stove.\u201d
\nOne recent listing for a new home in Bethesda touts the selling point of a $16,000 antique-style Lacanche French gas range that builders installed in the kitchen.
\n\u201cThe market generally prefers natural gas because it\u2019s better for cooking, feels nicer on your skin with cooler air coming out of the heating system and is more economical for drying clothes,\u201d said listing agent Carl Becker of Premier Properties, which specializes in building high-end custom homes on vacant lots.
\nCastlewood Custom Builders, which displayed the Washington Gas sign outside at least one newly constructed home in Montgomery County in recent weeks, declined to comment.
\nA 2021 study by the National Association of Home Builders found that 51% of homebuyers preferred gas for cooking, compared with 39% who wanted electric heating and 10% who didn\u2019t know or didn\u2019t care. The association of 130,000 builders and developers says it represents 90% of all new housing construction nationwide.
\n\u201cThe market wants gas,\u201d said Mr. Howard, the group\u2019s CEO. \u201cWhen you get over 50%, that\u2019s what you build for.\u201d
\nStill, liberal lawmakers in dozens of states, cities and counties have moved in recent years to ban gas in everything from leaf blowers to school buildings.
\nBerkeley, California, in 2019 became the first U.S. city to ban natural gas appliances, including stoves. The ban applies even to restaurants, an industry exempted from restrictions in Montgomery County and elsewhere.
\nLast year, Washington state banned gas from new commercial buildings and some residences starting this summer. Massachusetts enacted a law that lets local governments do the same.
\nThe clash to end the use of gas appliances has intensified since the end of last year.
\nLast month, Richard Trumka Jr., a Biden appointee to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, walked back comments suggesting that the administration would move to restrict gas stoves nationally.
\nSens. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, and Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, responded by introducing legislation this month that would prevent the federal government from banning gas stoves.
\nNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, recently announced a proposal that would make hers the first state to ban gas heating systems and appliances over the next several years.
\n\u201cI think the legislative authorities want to be seen as do-gooders without factual information in front of them,\u201d said Max Pyziur, a natural gas analyst at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, a Washington think tank. \u201cIt\u2019s odd to go after gas stoves since carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and the jury is still out on how lethal gas stoves are.\u201d
\nAdvocates of fossil fuels point out that electric grids rely mostly on coal, natural gas and nuclear power and derive only a small portion from renewable energy such as wind and solar. That means switching to electric stoves isn\u2019t producing green energy.
\nBesides increasing the values of houses built with gas stoves, economists say, the Montgomery County ban will make it harder for working-class people to buy homes there.
\n\u201cMontgomery County\u2019s gas ban will, like so many other policies, impact lower-income families the most,\u201d said Dan Sutter, an economist at Troy University in Alabama. \u201cEnvironmentalism is a luxury good, pursued by the well-off both in the United States and globally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washingtontimes<\/p>\n
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