President Joe Biden presents the Medal of Freedom for Richard Trumka to Richard Trumka Jr., Thursday, July 7, 2022, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
Dictating what you drive, where you live, and how you cook:
Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka, Jr. claims, slippery or not, that “they” aren’t coming for your stove. But don’t believe it, Kimberley Strassel alerts readers in the WSJ.
The reason gas stoves are in the news is simple: There is a coordinated, calculated—and well-funded—strategy to kill them off. It’s the joint enterprise of extremely powerful climate groups, working with Biden administration officials who have publicly stated their aim to eliminate all “combustion appliances” in homes. Only after the GOP called them out did anyone pretend otherwise.
Calculated and Well-Funded
The stated goal of many powerful groups is to kill gas to save the planet. Knowing Americans won’t give up their stoves in the name of climate, the cabal has hit on the idea of contradicting decades of science and ginning up hokey studies claiming gas stoves present a “health risk,” continues Ms. Strassel.
The twin goals: scare Americans and give government a pretext to ban gas cooking.
Climate Outfits Masquerading as Health Experts
One frequently cited study from the Rocky Mountain Institute—claiming to find a link between gas stoves and childhood asthma—was co-authored by two RMI staffers, neither of whom has a science degree. Another favorite study by New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity claims gas stoves cause “dangerous levels of indoor air pollution.” It was written by two lawyers, and it cites . . . the RMI study. Ah, science.
How close is the Biden administration to many of these powerful groups? Close enough to have wholly appropriated their “health” line.
(The Biden administration) has been open about using those claims to get rid of gas stoves—following state and local bans. The White House last month held an “electrification summit,” which featured a panel on getting gas out of homes.
Nearly every guest (including a representative from Rewiring America) stated the “health” harm of gas stoves as accepted fact, and Trisha Miller of the White House’s Climate Policy Office described the need to “eliminate emissions” by getting rid of all “combustion appliances” in houses (including your washer, dryer and furnace).
The electrification agenda is being carried out through the Department of Energy’s Better Climate Challenge, which lists Rewiring America and RMI as “allies.
Mr. Trumka circulated a memo titled “NPR Proposing Ban on Gas Stoves (Indoor Air Quality).” (NPR is an acronym for notice of proposed rulemaking.)
In a letter, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz demanded more information. The Cruz letter says the memo cites the Consumer Reports and NYU studies among reasons Mr. Trumka concludes there is “sufficient information” now to forbid Americans from purchasing new gas stoves. While the Trumka proposal failed, the CPSC initiated a “request for information”—a first step, alerts Ms. Strassel, toward a ban.
The Plan Is a Ban
“Make no mistake: A ban is the plan,” warns Ms. Strassel.
Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at the summit that “if we are going to get to net zero emissions by 2050,” we’ll need electric “cars and buses and home heating and cooking.”
The left won’t stop until it has dictated what you drive, where you live, and how you cook.
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