Don’t believe Democrats when they claim the left isn’t coming for your gas stoves. They are, and it’s happening through a propaganda campaign linking the appliances to air pollution.
In a Feb. 29 statement, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund — a left-wing activist group that wants to abolish fossil fuels — urged Best Buy, Lowe’s and Home Depot to warn consumers against buying gas stoves, claiming they cause childhood asthma.
In the statement, Deirdre Cummings of the Boston-based MASSPIRG Education Fund, pressured retail giants “to provide educational materials and train sales staff to answer questions about indoor air pollution and gas stoves, including proper ventilation.”
Democrats have been denying they plan to target gas stoves since January 2023, when Richard Trumka Jr., a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, told Bloomberg that the agency could take action against the appliances because of indoor air pollution.
“Any option is on the table,” Trumka said. “Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
When an uproar ensued, the White House hastened to claim it had no such intention.
“The president does not support banning gas stoves,” Michael Kikukawa, an assistant White House press secretary, told The New York Times in a Jan. 12, 2023, report. “And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves.”
But the story hasn’t gone away, given the Biden administration’s encroachments on other areas of domestic life, such as air conditioners, and moves by Democratic officials against other gas-powered gadgets, such as lawn equipment.
And for many, stoves are the part of the heart of the home. Many consumers prefer gas stoves because they use less energy and provide for better temperature control, which allows food to cook more evenly.
Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow in environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said it’s unlikely that consumers who like gas stoves can be badgered into buying an electric one.
“People don’t go to Lowe’s and Home Depot to get an environmental lecture from a 19-year-old,” he told The Washington Times.
Amy Cooke, a visiting fellow on environmental policy at State Policy Network, told the Times the effort to ban gas stoves is an “example of an out-of-touch, myopic tendency to judge energy resources and appliances solely based on their emissions.”
Cooke warned that this misguided maneuver will destabilize the energy grid by forcing consumers to switch to all-electric appliances.
Essentially, PIRG is disguising its insidious climate agenda as a benevolent movement to promote children’s health.
Numerous commenters on the social media platform X slammed the push to ban gas stoves as a cynical move to control the populace.
“The radical left is determined to ensure they can make your decisions for you,” Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
Gas stoves are under attack yet again. The radical left is determined to ensure they can make your decisions for you.
We deserve consumer choice; anything less is un-American.https://t.co/AymKdjzYC5
— Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (@RepDLesko) March 12, 2024
Another X user opined that the left only wants “to ban gas cookers and fires because they can’t control them or you.”
In other words they want to take away all open fires and gas stoves. 👵🏻👴🏼🥶❄️
Do Democrats have to lie in order to win elections?They only want to ban gas cookers and fires because they can’t control them or you. They want all appliances / car 100% ELECTRIC on smart meter so they can switch off all appliances etc as punishment… pic.twitter.com/xxNAybVMy3
— 🇮🇪 Andy Quirke aka Damo & Ivor (@Andy66202501) March 12, 2024
“Don’t believe for one second they want to get rid of gas stoves to save the planet,” one X user wrote.
“Electric stoves use way more power, which means they make way more money.”
Don’t believe for one second they want to get rid of gas stoves to save the planet. Electric stoves use way more power which means they make way more money.
I just compared our Electric Stove to the gas stove and it costs about $100 more for every 2 month billing cycle.
Plus,…
— Edwin🎙️ (@EdwinSphere) March 7, 2024
In Jan. 26, 2023, column headlined, “The Campaign to Ban Gas Stoves,” The Wall Street Journal columnist and editorial board member Kimberley Strassel savaged the left’s effort, and ridiculed attempts to deny that it’s underway.
“There is a coordinated, calculated — and well-funded — strategy to kill them off,” she wrote.
“It’s the joint enterprise of extremely powerful climate groups, working with Biden administration officials who have publicly stated their aim to eliminate all ‘combustion appliances’ in homes.”
The crusade involves gaslighting the public by pushing paid research linking gas stoves to air pollution as scientific fact.
“This is how you end up with climate outfits masquerading as health experts,” Strassel wrote.
“One frequently cited study from the Rocky Mountain Institute — claiming to find a link between gas stoves and childhood asthma — was co-authored by two RMI staffers, neither of whom has a science degree.”
She continued: “Another favorite study by New York University’s Institute for Policy Integrity claims gas stoves cause ‘dangerous levels of indoor air pollution.’ It was written by two lawyers, and it cites … the RMI study. Ah, science.”
Ultimately, the Democrats’ aggressive push for all 340 million Americans to switch to electric stoves, electric water heaters and electric cars is part of an insidious power grab.
“The left won’t stop until it has dictated what you drive, where you live, and how you cook,” Strassel wrote.
Where is the lie?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
