Add your support for a proposed Bay Area Air Quality Management rule that would ban gas hookups in new buildings.
This measure would update the Air District’s guidelines for applying the California Environmental Quality Act. It’s a way to extend the good work that dozens of Bay Area cities have done with reach codes and regulations to require all-electric new construction. This would apply a similar standard to the whole region.
Methane ( 80 – 90% of “natural gas”) is a much more potent greenhouse has than carbon dioxide. Extraction, transportation , and use of natural gas inevitably produces methane leaks all along the supply chain – in addition to the carbon dioxide produced by burning the gas.
In addition, methane is a toxic gas that increases acute and chronic respiratory problems including asthma, damage to lung development in children and other respiratory diseases. Several studies have linked asthma to use of gas stoves.
And use of natural gas increases the risk of fires and explosions.
Join the meetings where the Air District will consider this proposal and add your voice:
WHERE
Links to meetings here
In a related Air District process
In addition to the proposed ban on gas hookups in new buildings, the Air District has already committed to a zero-nitrous oxide (NOx) standard for home heating and hot water, “with a plan for an equitable, affordable transition.” Gas appliances could not meet that standard.
NOx is produced when fuel is burned. This is a toxic gas that interacts with sunlight in atmosphere to produce ozone and PM2.5. This mixture causes respiratory problems (asthma, wheezing, decreased lung function), heart disease, and early death).
In the Bay Area, household appliances release nearly three times as much NOx as light-duty passenger vehicles and more than eight times as much as power plants
A letter from the Sierra Club and other groups is urging the Air District to “lead a broad, multi-stakeholder effort with two working groups to ensure an equitable transition to electric space and water heating.”