The United States Senate is cooking up an act that will relieve home cooks across America if it is passed.
It is being called the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) are introducing it in response to a Department of Energy (DOE) rule that would set a new “energy conservation standard” for both gas stoves and electric cooking equipment.
Manchin was on fire as he lashed out against the new rule.
“I just want to mention one last thing unrelated to our hearing topic today,” Manchin said from the Senate floor. “Gas, and I’ll repeat gas stoves have been in the news lately and I’ve come out strongly against the Consumer Product Safety Commission pursuing any ban of gas stoves.”
He added that he was joining with Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to introduce legislation to ensure gas stoves aren’t banned.
“I’ve always been a proponent of energy efficiency,” he continued. “But the draft rule proposes efficiency levels that DOE says at the highest level, up to 96% of gas stoves don’t currently meet. I don’t like where I think they’re going with this.”
“And I’ll tell you one thing; they’re not taking my gas stove out. And my wife and I would both be upset,” Manchin said. “The federal government doesn’t have any business telling American families how to cook their dinner. If there’s technology down the road, and as we transition into new technology, that’s fine, but basically retrofitting or removing stoves that people have had for years is not going to happen.”
When Americans were first tipped off that a gas stove ban might be coming, the fact checking industry lit up to dismiss the idea.
New York Times did its usual “Republicans pounce” schtick to downplay Americans’ concerns that the Feds were eyeballing their beloved cooking equipment.
“Concerns raised by the nation’s top consumer watchdog about the health hazards posed by gas stoves have 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,” the Times chided.
“Critics were pushing back hard on Wednesday against recent comments made by Richard Trumka Jr., a commissioner of the United States 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,” the piece added.
“This is a hidden hazard,” Mr. Trumka said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
So, wherever might “Republicans” get the idea that gas stoves might be banned? Perhaps because they are literate and comprehend the meaning of words?
It turns out the Biden administration was gaslighting the public by dismissing the uproar about the gas stoves. In a newly obtained memo dated Oct. 25, 2022 via Fox News, Trumka wrote to a fellow commissioner there was sufficient evidence for the agency to move forward with a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to ban gas stoves in the near future.
Trumka’s memo was titled, “NPR Proposing Ban on Gas Stoves (Indoor Air Quality).”
“The need for gas stove regulation has reached a boiling point,” the CPSC commissioner wrote in the October memo. “CPSC has the responsibility to ban consumer products that emit hazardous substances, particularly, when those emissions harm children, under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.”
“Emerging evidence is sufficient to conclude that gas stoves in homes emit toxic gasses that cause illness and that lower-cost, safer alternatives are available,” Trumka added.
In any event, America’s loopiest governor, Kathy Hochul of the failed State of New York, latched onto the idea. Because no idea is too dumb for Kathy Hochul.
But not only did Hochul come out against gas stoves, she even came out against gas furnaces, which heat 80 percent of the homes in New York state.
In her State of the State address in January, Hochul “backed a ban on the sale of fossil fuel based heating equipment beginning in 2030 for single-family homes and smaller buildings and 2035 for larger and commercial buildings,” Politico reported.
New York’s environment czar gave the game away, as reported by the Times. You see, the ban on gas stoves wouldn’t apply to existing homes. But new construction requirements could ultimately regulate out gas stoves or penalize those who use them.
“No one is going to come and take your gas stove,” Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “But as you begin making a transition, everyone will have to switch out appliances over the year… in the due course of swaps, what can you do to incentivize shifting from gas into something different, like an alternative induction stove or whatever is available at the time.”
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Hochul’s office then said the governor “has been clear that we have to take bold steps on climate to protect the health and safety of our children, and 30 percent of state greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. The equipment phase out proposal would not apply to gas stoves. Both proposals include regulatory processes to examine which exemptions are appropriate.”
Perhaps Hochul isn’t aware that burning natural gas has very low emissions. But there may be another reason they are pushing to eliminate gas furnaces and stoves: The World Economic Forum is behind it.
In a February 2022 article, our creepy would-be overlords at the WEF suddenly decided that gas stoves are a ‘bigger threat to the climate than previously thought.’
“Gas stoves have been found to be a bigger contributor to the climate crisis than previously believed, as they produce methane even when not in use,” the WEF proclaimed. “Researchers found that more than 3/4 of the methane emissions that they measured occurred when the stoves were switched off. More than 40 million U.S. homes cook with gas.”
“Researchers calculated that gas stoves pump 2.6 million tons of methane into the atmosphere each year, or the equivalent of 500,000 cars,” the WEF added, citing research published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Americans have seen this media charade a hundred times before.
It goes like this: Report comes out. It’s dismissed as a “rumor.” If it persists, it’s smeared as a “conspiracy theory.” If a politician speaks up, it’s decried as “Republicans pounce.” Then it gets “fact checked.” When it’s “fact checked,” it is called “false” while conceding that there is some truth. Then a report comes out later the “debunked” “conspiracy theory” the “Republicans pounced on” is either true or the government is taking some action confirming there was cause for concern.
This is called gaslighting. But the only kind of gaslighting that Americans want is when they are cooking their bacon-wrapped steaks on their gas stoves.
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OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
Source: Becker News Rephrased By: InfoArmed