by Erin Mundahl October 18, 2019
Consumers are getting caught in the crossfire of environmental activists’ war against natural gas and the new battlefield is in the kitchen.
Environmentalists began collaborating with state government officials from across the United States at a closed-door gathering in New York this summer to lay out the plans for policies that would prevent consumers from using natural gas to cook their food or heat their homes.
The conference included representatives from the Rocky Mountain Institute, the Energy Foundation, and the World Research Institute among others, according to open records recently obtained by free market group Energy Policy Advocates and reviewed by the Washington Times.
It was hosted by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) at their Pocantico Center in Tarrytown, N.Y. where they paid for all logistical costs and emails show they also offered to cover the airfare of state government officials who needed financial assistance.
“If your state cannot cover travel, we can help you cover your travel costs as well,” an email read.
On July 18, the group met for a panel discussion called “Natural Gas Lock In” which set its sights on natural gas home appliances like stoves, washers, and dryers.
“We are well past the point of using natural gas as a transition fuel, and new policies and programs should explicitly avoid further ‘lock-in’ investments like natural gas fueled municipal buses or energy efficiency funding for natural gas equipment,” read one email.
It’s a policy proposal that would likely have a significant adverse impact on Colorado, New Mexico, and other energy-producing states in the West.
Additional emails showed the group included state government officials from New Mexico and 11 other “trifecta” states – in which the Democratic Party controls both the governorship and both legislative chambers – who discussed going beyond bans on natural gas appliances and pursue a full elimination of fossil fuels.
New Mexico is heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry for its economy and to fund public services. Because of the thriving Permian Basin, the state saw a $900 million surplus last year and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has spoken repeatedly about being able to offer free tuition to state universities because of this revenue.
“We are asking lead energy policy advisors to attend from a dozen states with supportive, and in many cases, new governors and legislatures interested in accelerating the transition to a clean, low-carbon economy,” read an invite in one of the emails. You are invited because you are the, or one of the, lead policy advisors to your governor on energy and climate policy,” and agenda stated.
The meeting was a sign that climate activists, including the Basalt, Colo.-based Rocky Mountain Institute and Colorado State University’s Center for the new Energy Economy—which is headed by former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter—are working to spread natural gas bans around the country and that activists are continuing to work on the strategy that was originally envisioned at a gathering in La Jolla, Calif. in 2012 to use legal and regulatory actions to curtail the use of fossil fuels.
While activists are fighting to make natural gas appliances illegal, consumers continue to seek them out. Natural gas stoves, furnaces, and other appliances remain consumer favorites. According to the American Gas Association, in 2017, natural gas had 49 percent market share for both cooktop ranges and water heaters.
In part, this is because chefs and cooks at all skill levels prefer natural gas burners to electric stoves. Gas allows for quicker heat that can be more precisely controlled. In fact, one study of homebuyers in the Pacific Northwest found that 87 percent ranked natural gas service as important to them, largely because of price and cooking. They were also willing to pay a premium for natural gas over an all-electric home.
That presents a challenge for climate activists.
Read the rest of the article here.
HT/ L.E.J.
What is clearly needed in this country (and world) is a honest discussion about the evidence for and against climate change, aka global warming. You leave out the talking points, you focus on the computer models and their total inadequacy. You get the alarmists to admit there is nothing sacred about a consensus. I believe Trump has asked a group of people to do the research and come back with an analysis.
I was explaining this to some plumbers in my local UK plumbers merchants saying that domestic heating and cooking were the start so they had better get up to speed on installing the most expensive form of heating going electric. They didn’t believe me but I told them it was in the climate change act which those fools in parliament put through following the lead given them by the eco terrorists at Greenpeace WWF etc.
James Bull
Not to worry.
From Britains National Grid which has a plan:
• The gas system will need
to be transformed to
accommodate hydrogen.
• Gas appliance standards must require
boilers to be “hydrogen-ready” in order
to leverage replacement cycles.
• Strong, no regrets policy action must
be taken immediately
http://fes.nationalgrid.com/media/1409/fes-2019.pdf
What could possibly go wrong?
I’ve been thinking of getting a gas stove for many years. Seeing this article, I’m getting off my duff and buying one before it becomes illegal.
They are talking absolute drivel we need lots more CO2 so that we can grow more food and have lots more trees and plants. We are being told the same drivel in the UK – they want to destroy our heating systems and our gas stoves. What do we do with these people? I can think of something but is not printable ???
Just proof that the likes of Greta Thunberg haven’t a clue about the science of our planet’s climate have a watch of this video where a Canadian media outlet asks her some very polite questions on her “religion” which she claims is science and not politics. But she is incapable of giving him any answers.
Let them shut off all fossil fuels in the states that want to ban them. A year or so of going fossil fuel free should provide a wake up call and all those “woke” people will have a serious change of heart.