By Jack McEvoy
Richard Trumka Jr., a top Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) official, indicated that his agency could move to ban gas stoves just last month.
Trumka, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in July, said that banning gas stoves was a “real possibility” after referencing studies that linked dementia and asthma to the appliances during a Dec. 14 webinar hosted by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an environmental and consumer advocacy nonprofit. He added that his commission would put out a formal request by no later than March to seek additional information from the public on the potential dangers posed by gas stoves.
“We need to be talking about regulating gas stoves, whether that’s drastically improving emissions or banning them entirely,” he said.
During the webinar, Trumka, who is a Democrat, indicated that any moves to crack down on gas-fired stoves could be accelerated if there was enough public pressure. He also praised Maryland’s Montgomery County for passing legislationthat would ban nearly all fossil fuel use inside buildings, according to a tweet he posted on Dec. 15.
“This public request for information is the first step in what could be a long journey toward regulating gas stoves,” Trumka said. “We could get a regulation on the books before this time next year.”
Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric confirmed that the agency was seeking public input on potentially regulating gas stoves in a Wednesday statement.
“Later this spring, we will be asking the public to provide us with information about gas stove emissions and potential solutions for reducing any associated risks,” Hoehn-Saric said. “But to be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.”
Trumka told Bloomberg Monday that the CSPC could ban the manufacture and import of gas stoves or impose regulations upon them if they “can’t be made safe.”
However, the Biden appointee walked back his previous statements and said that the CSPC was not “coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” adding that regulations would only apply to new appliances, according to a Monday tweet. A day after he attempted to clarify his comments, he touted a Twitter post that linked to a Curbed article, referencing a Stanford University study that discovered that gas burner emissions can exceed national standards within short periods of time in small and poorly ventilated kitchens.
The CPSC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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