NY Bans Fossil Fuels in New Buildings - Should More Do the Same?

What's the story?

• Starting in 2026, New York state will phase out all-natural gas stoves and furnaces in new builds amid growing research on methane's climate and health impacts.
• Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers who control the New York Senate and Assembly approved the $229 billion state budget, which contained the new provision earlier this month.
• The move has garnered praise from climate activists but will likely receive backlash and be targeted by fossil fuel companies lobbying efforts.
• While New York is the first state to embrace the changes, cities like Berkeley, San Francisco, and NYC have already passed bans on natural gas hookups in new buildings.

What's in the provision?

• The provision will apply to buildings under seven stories by 2026 and to taller buildings by 2029. The law will ban gas-powered stoves, furnaces, and propane heating and promote all-electric heating and climate-friendly appliances.
• The budget also contains efforts to create publicly owned renewable energy projects and green jobs. It suggests a cap-and-invest program that would force higher polluters to purchase permits to pollute, with the revenues going to climate initiatives.
• There are exceptions to the bill, specifically for commercial and industrial buildings like hospitals, laundromats, and restaurants.

What's the background?

• In 2020, New York pledged to have net-zero emissions by 2050 as part of its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Buildings have posed a roadblock to this vision as each year, 250,000 metric tons of pollution are created from new builds and their gas installations. According to a 2022 Department of Environmental Conservation report, buildings account for 32% of New York State's emissions. 
• Methane is the main component in natural gas and has 80 times as much warming impact as carbon dioxide. Climate scientists believe the best way to decrease global warming rapidly is to reduce methane use.
• Richard Trumka Jr., a U.S. Consumer Product Safety commissioner, pointed to the hidden dangers of gas stoves in January, sparking concern and controversy when he suggested they were related to childhood asthma.
• A Stanford University study found that the emissions from gas stoves in U.S. homes have the same impact on climate change as half a million gasoline-powered cars. The U.S. Energy Information Administration found more than 40 million gas stoves in U.S. households as of 2015.

What are supporters saying?

• Lee Ziesche, from the nonprofit Sane Energy, said:

"This new study confirms what environmental advocates have been saying for over a decade now, that there is no [such thing as] clean gas – not for our homes, not for our communities and not for the climate." 

• The spokesperson for Gov. Hochul, Katy Zielinski, said the new legislation "will protect our families and our residents, while putting New York on a trajectory to a cleaner, healthier future."
• Alex Beauchamp, from environmental nonprofit Food & Water Watch, praised the bill:

"New Yorkers are resisting fossil fuels everywhere they pop up, from the power plants that pollute our air to the pipelines that put our communities in harm's way. Now buildings can be a part of that solution. We won't stop fighting until we end our devastating addiction to fossil fuels."

• Sarah Fox, an associate law professor at Northern Illinois University School of Law, said:

"I think it's huge that a state is doing it, not only because New York is a big-impact state. It takes it outside of this narrative of these are these fringe cities passing these policies. This is becoming a mainstream policy that a state like New York is taking on."

What are GOP-led states doing?

• 23 GOP-controlled states have passed "preemption laws" prohibiting cities from banning natural gas.
• Fox said of the GOP-backed pre-emptive legislation:

"The natural gas industry realized this was in the water a while ago and has been very aggressive in getting this passed."

• American Gas Association president and CEO Karen Harbert said:

"Any push to ban natural gas would raise costs to consumers, jeopardize environmental progress and deny affordable energy to underserved populations."  

Do you support the natural gas ban? Should more states do the same?

—Emma Kansiz