“Bay Area cities and counties are holding off on enforcing natural gas bans in new buildings following a recent federal ruling.”
Individual cities and counties in the Bay Area are suspending California’s ban on natural gas for new construction.
“The pauses come in the wake of the Ninth Court declining in January to rehear Berkeley’s ban on natural gas in new buildings, which was first struck down by the court in April 2023. A panel of judges ruled that Berkeley cannot prohibit natural gas due to a pre-existing federal energy law.”
While this ruling doesn’t change anythign in cities that has modified their building codes around electrification, this is a small win for organizations like the California Restaurant Association (CRA). In 2019, the CRA sued the city of Berkeley over the ban, claiming there was a “disregard for available cooking technologies and ultimately for small businesses in the community that rely on gas-burning equipment for their cuisines.”
The recent reversal has disheartened those fighting for electrification,
“Every new gas pipeline installed is a public health liability and step backward on climate change,” Dashiell Leeds, conservation coordinator at the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, said. “The more we can avoid the hazards of gas pipelines and gas appliances in new buildings, the better off we all are.”
But some are ready to improvise whichever way the verdict goes,
“I enjoy cooking with gas more,” said The Heirloom Chef co-owner and personal chef Erika Minkowsky. “I think there is more control with the temperature… You can get used to anything if you practice enough.”
Read the full article from East Bay Times here.
