Here’s another right-wing “conspiracy theory” that turned out to be true.
The Washington Free Beacon reported on Saturday that a proposed Biden administration regulation concerning stoves using natural gas would effectively ban sales of half of all such appliances on the U.S. market.
The Free Beacon cited an Energy Department report as summarized by E&E News, a publication that covers the energy industry.
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President Joe Biden’s administration admitted in its internal analysis that “roughly half of all gas stoves on the U.S. market today would not meet its proposed cooking appliance efficiency regulations,” the Free Beacon noted. “As a result, those stoves would not be eligible for purchase.”
Yet the administration put its own spin on something that just a month ago liberals claimed was not happening — as noted in headlines at the time by The New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, and other news agencies.
According to the Free Beacon, Energy Department spokesman Jeremy Ortiz noted that half of the gas stove market would remain available if the rule is finalized.
The latest news reinforces earlier comments that touched off a controversy over such stoves.
Last month, as The Free Press reported, Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. of the Consumer Product Safety Commission claimed that gas appliances present a “hidden hazard” in the home and that his agency was set to heighten testing and regulation of them.
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“Any option is on the table,” he said. “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
Suddenly, despite no previous comments on the appliances, liberals such as Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were proclaiming that gas stoves contributed to climate change and increased the risk of children developing asthma.
Conservatives recoiled at yet another potential overreach into everyday American life by big government.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis responded by proposing a tax holiday on sales of gas stoves. He also unveiled one of his signature “Don’t Tread on Florida” campaign items, which recall the familiar Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, by featuring a yellow apron with the image of a stove.
“I just want to make it clear to everybody that when we say ‘Don’t Tread on Florida’ or ‘Let us alone,’ we mean that, including for your gas stoves,” DeSantis declared at an event in The Villages. “I know many people who cook a lot who do not want to part with their gas stoves.”
Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson was among the first to weigh in, tweeting “I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”
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According to the Free Beacon, Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, claimed that Biden, who has fought the fossil-fuel industry since taking office, “does not support banning gas stoves.”
“The Energy Department’s new rule and subsequent analysis, however, contradict that walkback, and the home appliance industry is responding with fierce pushback,” the Free Beacon added.
The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, for instance, maintained that the proposed regulation would actually prohibit a much larger share of gas stoves from being sold.
Jill Notini, the group’s vice president, noted an Energy Department test of 21 models of gas stoves in December revealed that all but one failed to meet the proposed rule’s efficiency standards. That essentially meant 96% of the gas stove market would be outlawed.
The Free Beacon also pointed out that Trumka based his initial comments about gas stoves on a study that claimed 13% childhood asthma cases in the U.S. were caused by using gas stoves — which are utilized by 40% of American households.
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“The group behind that study, Colorado-based green energy nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, has partnered with the Chinese government to engineer an ‘economy-wide transformation’ away from oil and gas,” the Free Beacon noted.
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