Energy Secretary Acknowledges Half of Gas Stoves Could Be Impacted by Government Proposal

On March 23, as Rep. Dan Newhouse( R – Wash. ) questioned Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about her department’s proposed rule on the appliances, a hearing on President Joe Bidens’ proposed budget turned to gas stoves.

Granholm informed Newhouse that” there has been a ton of false information floating around about this.”

Granholm acknowledged that a Department of Energy proposition might have an effect on half of gas heaters.

She claimed that” half of the gas heaters currently on the market wouldn’t even be impacted.”

On February 1, the Department of Energy( DoE ) proposed a rule that could effectively remove many gas stoves from the market. A commissioner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission( CPSC ), Richard Trumka, Jr., told Bloomberg that a ban on gas stoves was” on the table” just weeks prior to that proposal.

On January 11, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, the chair of the CPSC, responded to Trumka’s remark by saying,” I am not looking to ban gas cookers, and there is no cause to do so.”

Granholm also echoed White House commentary on Jan. 11 downplaying talk of a ban when he said in late January that the idea of banning gas stoves was” so crazy” and” even neither true.”

However, Trumka claimed in an internal memo from October 2022 that the body had sufficient justification to suggest banning gas stoves in homes for this financial year.

You can view the document, which has been reviewed by The Epoch Times, around.

By making a technical request for information about the potential health risks of gas-powered heaters earlier this month, the CPSC moved closer to different gas burner rules.

You can view that get around.

DoE plan comments

On March 23, Granholm informed Newhouse that a recent consent decree had something to do with the schedule of the DoE’s most current proposal.

We are simply adhering to the program that was requested of us, she said.

By January 31, 2024, DoE must treat gas stoves, either through different energy conservation standards or by deciding not to change the current ones. This consent decree was issued in response to a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club, some environmental organizations, and countless states.

Due to their heavier vents and oval-shaped stoves, Granholm asserted that” high-end oil stoves” were the ones at risk.

Those characteristics were described by Granholm as” a inefficient use of herbal oil.”

She continued,” It truly doesn’t argue that anyone who has a gas stove would have it taken away.”

The conversation took place while the House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies was hearing.

Granholm omitted to address Newhouse’s criticisms of the DoE proposal and its possible effects on restaurants, which frequently rely on gas stoves.

House Republicans recently introduced legislation to stop the Biden presidency from enacting any oil burner bans.

As lawmakers questioned Granholm about the DoE’s taking in the 2024 funding Biden suggested on March 9, there was an exchange on gas stoves.

Biden wants the DoE’s allowance to be increased by 13.6 percent from the 2023 funding. A total of$ 52 million would be received by the department.

According to the Office of Management and Budget’s( OMB ) budget document,” DoE spending” advances environmental justice and equity ,” including through”$ 54 million for the office of economic impact and diversity to help implement the Department of Justice40 Initiative efforts.”

That represents a significant increase from the FY 2023 allowance, which allocated$ 34 million to that work.

Only$ 20 million was received by the same office in FY 2022, or roughly 37 % of the president’s request from just two years later.

Granholm’s evidence was given the same day that the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works heard Michael Regan, the superintendent of the Environmental Protection Agency, discuss the budget for Biden.

On March 23, the House Appropriations Committee held a number of hearings regarding particular portions of Biden’s funding request.

The U.S. Forest Service, the Office of Justice’s Inspector General, and the Department of Defense have some allowance requests that are being heard right.