After repeatedly denying that it wants to formally ban natural gas-powered stoves, the Department of Energy released a… The Federal Register its finalized regulations addressing kitchen appliances.
Critics from Congress to energy advocacy groups slammed the new rule, which administration officials have long denied constitutes a ban.
But American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle said it still wins the “Triple Crown of bad regulation.”
“It’s ineffective, unnecessary and likely illegal,” Pyle said, also acknowledging that the administration had watered down the original policy written for 2023.
Biden administration backs off gas stove crackdown after widespread response
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“After receiving harsh criticism for banning gas stoves, the Biden-Harris administration settled for this rule, which they claim would reduce costs for families. Of course, what they don’t tell you is that their supposed savings are just 21 cents a year.”
Pyle said that if Democrats remain in power, the rule will be “a mere preview” of future regulatory excesses that will try to control other mundane aspects of daily life, such as cooking.
“American consumers [are] “Consumers are fully capable of choosing the appliances that best suit their needs,” he said.
The Energy Department, however, defended the regulation, even in the face of accusations that it had wavered on it.
A spokesman said the rule published in the Federal Register reflects regulations drafted earlier this year and that this final rule has the support of groups including the Home Appliance Manufacturers Association.
An Energy Department spokesman said it was “building on decades of industry-wide efforts to ensure our appliances run more efficiently and save Americans money.”
“When you look beyond the misleading rhetoric, you see that our actions on appliance standards are aimed at nothing other than promoting innovation and increasing energy efficiency without sacrificing the reliability and performance that Americans expect and rely on,” they said.
But lawmakers who have sought to ease “bans” or regulations on appliances and other devices that require fossil fuel energy were not convinced of the benefits of the new rule.
In 2023, Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., successfully wrote an amendment to an energy bill that would prohibit Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s department from implementing the original energy standard for stoves.
“If this draconian rule were implemented, 50 to 95 percent of current gas appliances would be eliminated,” Newhouse said at the time.
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President Biden. (Getty Images)
“Gas appliances are the foundation of American homes. They power our stoves, furnaces, water heaters and fireplaces,” he said, calling natural gas “affordable, reliable and safe.”
On Thursday, a spokesman for Newhouse said the lawmaker’s efforts were a “major factor” in getting the original rule repealed and revised to its current form.
“While this new rule will still require strict federal oversight by Congress, it prevents states like California and Washington from implementing sweeping, sweeping rules that are completely unreasonable to consumers and producers and will only pave the way for other states to follow,” the spokesperson said.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., whose Gas Range Freedom and Protection Act passed the House but has languished in the Senate for a year, called the newly released rule “incredibly frustrating and out of touch.”
“Americans are concerned about the fentanyl crisis that is crippling communities, and many Americans are worried about being able to provide for their families and put food on the table. Instead of considering the immediate needs of many Americans, the administration has chosen to prioritize attacks on gas stoves to appease climate extremists,” Armstrong said, adding that this shows the administration wants to control every aspect of life.
Heritage Action for America Vice President Ryan Walker said the Department of Energy is “vilifying natural gas” despite its affordability and clean-burning qualities.
“After insisting they had no plans to ban gas stoves, the Biden-Harris administration simply went ahead with their new rule that may render these hugely popular appliances out of existence,” Walker said, adding, “The left only cares about virtue signaling and pleasing their extremist base, not hard-working Americans trying to make ends meet and put food on the table. The next conservative administration can and should reverse the Biden-Harris crackdown on appliances.”
Democrats who vehemently opposed Republican efforts to weaken regulations or were in favor of such rules offered no reaction to the news.
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Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said of 2023 efforts to stop such regulation: “House Republicans are once again putting polluters over people.”
Pallone did not respond to a request for comment.
Neither did Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., who previously called Cost-related concerns about forcing Americans off natural gas are a “conspiracy theory concocted to embroil Congress in culture wars that shed more heat than light on the problems facing our nation.”
The Philadelphia lawmaker said the then-proposed rule would save consumers a combined $1.7 billion by 2023.
However, one longtime Democrat spoke out against the original draft of the 2023 rule, as Sen. Joe Manchin, IW.V., said the feds “have no business telling American families how to cook their dinner.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report..
