from the Climate Activist

The natural gas industry, with its huge leaky network of wells, storage tanks and pressurized pipes, is a major source of both methane emitted directly into the atmosphere and CO2 emissions from methane combustion.

About 26% of the natural gas produced in the United States is used in buildings, mostly for heating. In order to reduce emissions from this sector, existing buildings need to be retrofitted to use renewable electricity instead of gas. And looking a step ahead: if new buildings are constructed to be all-electric, they will never need gas infrastructure or expensive retrofitting later on.

A number of states and cities have tried different regulatory strategies to require all-electric new construction. Berkeley, California, was a front-runner among cities, passing an ordinance in 2019 that banned new gas infrastructure such as supply lines to new buildings or distribution piping within the building.

The California Restaurant Association, thought to be acting partly as a front for the SoCalGas utility, sued Berkeley and won on appeal in 2023 in the federal Ninth Circuit court. The court’s reasoning was that gas appliances are allowed under the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Therefore banning the infrastructure needed for gas appliances is contrary to federal law, which preempts local law.

After this ruling, some jurisdictions that had passed laws similar to Berkeley’s stopped enforcing them, and some rescinded their gas bans. Many ”red” states passed legislation making gas bans illegal.

Other states and cities have looked for ways to stop natural gas use in new buildings that will not conflict with the Ninth Circuit decision. Some of these are summarized below – links and more details can be found in this Toolbox Update.

• Washington State limits new gas hookups by utilities, regulating the utilities directly rather than inserting the ban in its building codes.
•  New York City sets the amount of carbon emitted by new building operations so low that the use of natural gas wouldn’t allow the building to stay under the permitted cap.
• Chicago has a new draft ordinance, not yet passed, that would limit indoor emissions, effectively banning gas combustion appliances.

And Berkeley is back for another round. It has a community-supported measure on the November ballot that would tax large buildings based on their consumption of natural gas, encouraging them to use less. The tax generated would be used for retrofits of older buildings through replacing gas HVAC systems and appliances with electric. Low-income households would be prioritized.