From the Daily Caller
Nick Pope
Contributor
A dark blue city in California is imposing a tax on large buildings that use natural gas after a federal court rejected the city's attempt to ban natural gas hookups and stoves, according to The Daily Californian.
The Berkeley, Calif., City Council voted on July 30 to place an initiative on the upcoming ballot that would tax buildings 15,000 square feet or more that use natural gas, according to the Daily Californian. In 2019, the city attempted to impose a blanket ban on new construction with natural gas connections and gas furnaces, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned that ban in April 2023 following a legal challenge to the policy.
The ballot measure, formally known as the Large Building Fossil Fuel Emissions Tax, would affect more than 600 buildings in Berkeley if a simple majority of voters approve it at the ballot box, according to The Daily Californian. Supporters of the measure describe it as an important step in fighting climate change, but opponents in the food service industry and other industries worry the tax will place a heavy burden on businesses and force commerce out of the city. (Related: 'Makes no sense': Manchin blasts Biden administration on gas stoves, 'crazy' ESG investing)
“The gas appliance I purchased is expected to last for decades,” Emily Winston, owner of Boichik Bagels in Berkeley, wrote in a letter to the City Council, according to the Daily Californian. “I grew my business in Berkeley with the intention of staying here for decades,” said Dow. “But if I'm going to be hit with nearly $500,000 in fines every year, I'm going to have to seriously consider moving out.” “
Other organizations, including nonprofits, are also concerned that the new tax could impose high costs on their operations, according to the Daily Californian.
The David Brower Center, a nonprofit that promotes the environmental movement, wrote to the City Council warning that the policy would bring “significant costs to the building, especially considering Since the beginning of the pandemic, [it has] The company has been breaking even or losing money, according to the Daily Californian. Local performing arts venue Berkeley Repertory Theater similarly wrote to the City Council expressing its concerns, “While we support electrification, this well-intentioned ballot measure would be very harmful to our struggling organization if implemented immediately.” “
Berkeley voters will also soon decide whether to pass the so-called “Healthy New Buildings” ordinance, which, if passed, would ban the sale and installation of nitrogen-generating gas furnaces and stoves starting in 2027, according to the Daily News Oxide equipment.
“I have no position on initiatives that qualify for the ballot. Once the council is deemed to have received a sufficient number of valid signatures, the measure must be placed on the ballot. I am neither a supporter nor an opponent of this initiative, “Berkeley City Council Member Igor Tregub told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Over the course of several weeks, after the measures were certified for the ballot and after my own election, which was certified around the same time, my office tried to find common ground between supporters and opponents of these measures in order to be more Balanced City Council could develop alternative measures and put them on the ballot. Although a lot of work was done to reach consensus among the various stakeholders, we ultimately ran out of time to reach consensus.
The Biden administration is also pursuing a broad building decarbonization agenda that favors using electricity to produce appliances and heat buildings instead of fossil fuels. The administration has banned the use of natural gas in new federal buildings starting in 2030, spent significant money to assist state and municipal governments in developing green building codes, and defined zero-emission buildings as “buildings with no on-site emissions.” and “Powered only by clean energy.”
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg in January 2023 that “any options are on the table” for a possible gas stove ban and that “ Products that cannot be guaranteed to be safe can be banned,” although the Department of Energy (DOE) calls any suggestion that the government wants to ban gas stoves “misinformation.”
Biden Justice Department and Energy Department officials specifically filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit in June 2023 asking the court to overturn Berkeley's 2019 natural gas connection ban, but the court ruled in January that it did not The decision will be reviewed.
Steve Everley, senior managing director at FTI Consulting, wrote in a post on Wednesday: “The city of Berkeley, whose natural gas ban was recently struck down by the Ninth Circuit, now wants to try to tax facilities that use natural gas. “To X, refer to the story in the California Daily News. “But remember, no one is trying to ban gas stoves.”
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín and Councilmembers Rashi Kesarwani, Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett, Sophie Hahn, Susan Wengraf, Cecilia Lunaparra and Mark Humbert did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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