San Francisco area push to ban gas appliances amid blackouts is ‘pure extremist politics,’ CEO says

Homeowners and builders are calling a imaginable prohibition connected definite gas-powered appliances successful nan San Francisco Bay Area an utmost move, forcing a region prone to blackouts to trust moreover further connected an over-burdened electrical supply.

"This is conscionable axenic extremist authorities being taken to nan eventual extremes," said National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard. "You talk to anybody successful California, their electrical grid can't return nan existent strain successful nan summer, obviously, and you're going to adhd to it by making each car electric, each furnace, each aerial conditioner, each refrigerator, each stove electric?"

"Once you commencement down this way that state is bad, it gives momentum to each of these extremists who are choosing to disregard nan facts and prosecute an schedule that is only going to origin much group to beryllium paying excessively overmuch for their lodging or, God forbid, much homelessness successful an area that's already ravaged by homelessness," he continued. 

CEO SAYS PROPOSAL TO BAN GAS-POWERED APPLIANCES COULD COST CONSUMERS THOUSANDS:

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The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is considering 2 rules that will prohibition nan waste and installation of h2o heaters, boilers and furnaces that emit nitrogen oxide, which regulators opportunity could origin asthma and different wellness issues. The move would efficaciously prohibition gas-powered versions of those appliances, meaning only those that run connected electricity would beryllium permitted.

Last week, complete 100,000 customers successful nan Bay Area mislaid powerfulness arsenic a acold beforehand pinch precocious winds caused downed powerfulness lines and outages, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Additionally, California can't meet its existent request and imported 30% of its energy from out-of-state sources successful 2021, according to nan California Electrical Commission. 

PG&E workers astatine nan tract of a substation wherever a occurrence earlier successful nan time caused a powerfulness outage passim parts of Oakland, Calif., connected Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023.  (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

"This is simply a authorities that's electrical grid is already overburdened," Howard told Fox News. "The builders will person to put successful caller instrumentality for nan subdivision that's much expensive, again, raising nan costs to nan consumers." 

California's electrical grid usability past summertime warned residents of imaginable blackouts owed to utmost power and precocious power demands. The usability besides requested residents not complaint their electrical vehicles complete Labor Day Weekend past twelvemonth to debar straining nan powerfulness proviso during a heatwave. 

The Bay Area cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley and Menlo Park person each already enacted authorities that reduces nan amount of state hook-ups, pinch constricted exceptions.

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Bay Area residents wrote emails and letters voicing interest and support complete nan proposals during a nationalist remark period. Over 90 comments were submitted online, pinch galore taking rumor pinch nan high-cost consumers would salary to retrofit their homes to accommodate nan high-voltage electrical appliances erstwhile their gas-powered appliances spell out.

Berkley, Calif., was nan first organization successful nan state to enact a prohibition connected caller earthy state infrastructure (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"I’d person to gut my location and unrecorded location other while contractors worked," wrote Jennifer Huber of Contra Costa County. "If I could moreover find a contractor."

Oakland resident Lawrence Jensen said: "These projected norm amendments will wreak havoc connected nan lives of regular group (the able will person nary problem adjusting, they ne'er do)."

The costs of instrumentality and installation for an electrical h2o heater and an electrical furnace costs much than gas-powered appliances, Howard said.

Howard told Fox News: "It's $3,000 for nan caller instrumentality and past $7,000 if you person to upgrade nan sheet and everything."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive bid requiring that, by 2035, each caller cars and rider trucks sold successful California beryllium zero-emission vehicles. (Associated Press)

If adopted, nan proposals will impact astir 66% of Bay Area households, according to nan Air District. 

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"A batch of nan lodging consumers successful nan Bay Area are surviving month-to-month, manus to mouth," Howard said.

"To enforce this benignant of costs connected them, location has to beryllium a bully reason, and I can't find anyplace a logic for this," he continued. "But that's nan measurement things are, I guess, successful California."

To watch Howard's afloat interview, click here.  

Ramiro Vargas contributed to this video.