From the Daily Caller
Nick Pope
Contributor
The Biden administration locked in the gas stove rule on Monday after insisting it had no intention of banning gas stoves and rebuffing efforts by opposition groups to repeal the rule.
The gas furnace efficiency rule announced by the Department of Energy (DOE) in January will take effect in January 2028, the Federal Register reported Monday. The finalized rules were less stringent than the 2023 proposal that was subsequently abandoned, and nuances in the rulemaking process allowed the agency to roll back parts of the regulations when it received a flood of negative public comments, E&E News reported. Its ruling continues over the objections of Republican state attorneys general and advocacy groups including the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
According to E&E News, the DOE introduced the rule as a “direct final rulemaking,” meaning no proposals for the policy have been released yet. The “direct final rulemaking” process also allows groups such as CEI to comment on the rule, giving the agency the opportunity to water down the rule. (Related: Forget the stove! The Biden administration is working overtime to phase out all gas appliances)
“The Federal Register is simply publishing a confirmation notice, which is a procedural step in our process to develop a direct final rule,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We are simply following our statutory guidance process in developing a direct final standard rule related to cooking,” the spokesperson continued, adding, “The final rule reflects the efforts of companies including the Home Appliance Manufacturers Association, the Consumer Federation of America and Energy Efficiency advocate.
According to E&E News, CEI argued in comments that the newer, less aggressive regulation is indeed watered down than the 2023 proposal, but it should still be withdrawn because it represents an overreach by the federal government and remains a policies that would increase costs for American consumers. In addition to the CEI and some Republican attorneys general, the Antonin Scalia School of Law's Administrative Law Clinic and other groups have voiced their opposition to the DOE rule.
The U.S. Department of Energy has claimed that the government's proposal to ban gas stoves is a “myth” and “misinformation.” Notably, Biden administration officials filed an amicus brief asking a federal court to overturn a decision striking down the city of Berkeley, California's 2019 ban on gas installations in new construction, a policy that ostensibly The general banned the installation of gas furnaces in new buildings.
“President Biden is committed to using every tool at the government’s disposal to lower costs for American families and create healthier communities, including as announced today,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said of the rulemaking released late at night. energy efficiency measures.
DOE regulations apply to electric ranges, gas ranges, stand-alone electric ranges, stand-alone gas ranges, and ovens. The rule could drive up the cost of certain models upfront, but the Biden administration claims the policy will save Americans over time by reducing the amount of energy their home stoves use, according to The Washington Post. one.
“The new standards also require only a small subset of vehicle models to make modest improvements in their energy efficiency to achieve the efficiency levels already demonstrated in most markets today,” the agency said in a January press release announcing the rule. “For example, on the market, Approximately 97% of gas stove models and 77% of smooth electric stove models already meet these standards.”
According to a June 2023 Harvard CAPS Harris Poll, nearly 70% of respondents opposed a policy that would essentially ban gas stoves. More than 80 percent of Republican respondents and 71 percent of independents opposed the policy, as did 55 percent of Democrats surveyed.
In addition to stoves, the U.S. Department of Energy has energy efficiency rules for everyday items like water heaters, furnaces and pool pump motors. The Biden administration has also spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help state and municipal governments develop building codes aimed at “decarbonizing” buildings.
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