{"id":339179,"date":"2024-08-10T18:47:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T16:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339179"},"modified":"2024-08-10T18:47:43","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T16:47:43","slug":"liberal-city-tries-to-tax-buildings-using-gas-after-court-smacked-down-its-outright-ban-on-gas-stoves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339179","title":{"rendered":"Liberal City Tries to Tax Buildings Using Gas After Court Smacked Down Its Outright Ban On Gas Stoves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DAILY CALLER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nick Pope<\/a>
<\/strong>Contributor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A deep blue city in California is teeing up a tax on larger buildings that use natural gas after a federal court rejected the city\u2019s attempt to ban gas hookups and stoves, according to The Daily Californian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city council of Berkeley, California, voted on July 30 to put an initiative on the upcoming ballot that would impose taxes on buildings that are 15,000 square feet or larger and use natural gas, according<\/a> to The Daily Californian. In 2019, the city tried to enact an outright ban on constructing new buildings with natural gas hookups, and gas stoves by extension, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned<\/a> the ban in April 2023 following a legal challenge against the policy brought by California Restaurant Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

he official title for the ballot measure is the \u201cLarge Buildings Fossil Fuel Emissions Tax<\/a>,\u201d and it would affect more than 600 buildings in Berkeley if a simple majority of voters approve it at the ballot box, according to The Daily Californian. The measure\u2019s proponents characterize it as an important step to fight climate change, but its opponents in the food service industry and beyond are concerned that the tax will place a steep burden on businesses and force commerce out of the city. (RELATED: \u2018Makes No Sense\u2019: Manchin Rips Biden Admin Over Gas Stoves, \u2018Crazy\u2019 ESG Investing)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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REP. CORI BUSH: “This proposed rule is not a ban on gas stoves! We are regulating indoor air pollution.”

And they called you paranoid for thinking they were coming for your gas stoves\u2026They’re just ‘regulating indoor air pollution.’ pic.twitter.com\/5ZkMKLSPvr<\/a>\u2014 Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 24, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe gas equipment I purchased is intended to last decades. My intention in growing my business in Berkeley is to be here for decades,\u201d Emily Winston, the owner of a Berkeley bagel shop called Boichik Bagels, wrote in a letter to the city council, per The Daily Californian. \u201cBut if I am going to be socked with a nearly half million dollar penalty every year, I will have to look seriously at moving out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other organizations, including nonprofits, are also concerned about the possibility of a new tax imposing steep costs on their operations, according to The Daily Californian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The David Brower Center<\/a>\u2014 a nonprofit that works to advance the environmental movement \u2014 wrote to the city council to warn that the policy would create a \u201csignificant expense for the building, particularly considering that since the beginning of the pandemic, [it has] been running breakeven or at a loss,\u201d according to The Daily Californian. The Berkeley Repertory Theater<\/a>, a local performing arts venue, similarly wrote the city council to express its concern that \u201cwhile we support electrification, this well-intentioned ballot measure with its immediate implementation would be very harmful to our struggling organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berkeley\u2019s voters will also soon decide whether to adopt the so-called \u201cHealthy New Buildings<\/a>\u201d ordinance, which would ban the sale and installation of appliances like gas stoves and furnaces that produce nitrogen oxides starting in 2027 if it is passed, according to The Daily Californian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not have a position on the initiative that qualified for the ballot. The Council was required to place this measure on the ballot once it was deemed to have received a sufficient number of valid signatures to do so. I am neither a proponent nor an opponent of this initiative,\u201d Igor Tregub, who sits on Berkeley\u2019s city council, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cOver the course of several weeks, subsequent to the measure being certified for the ballot and my own election (which was certified around the same time), my office attempted to find common ground between the measures\u2019 proponents and opponents so that a more balanced alternative measure could be crafted and placed on the ballot by an act of the City Council. Though a great deal of ground was covered in the direction of finding agreement between various stakeholders, we ultimately ran out of time before consensus could be reached.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden administration is also pursuing a broad building decarbonization<\/a> agenda that favors the use of electricity for appliances and heating buildings instead of fossil fuels. The administration has barred<\/a> the use of natural gas in new federal buildings starting in 2030, spent<\/a> large sums of money to assist state and municipal governments in developing green building codes and defined<\/a> zero emissions buildings as those that are \u201cfree of on-site emissions from energy use\u201d and \u201cpowered solely from clean energy\u201d in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told<\/a> Bloomberg News in January 2023 that \u201cany option is on the table\u201d with regard to a possible gas stove ban and that \u201cproducts that can\u2019t be made safe can be banned,\u201d though the Department of Energy (DOE) contends<\/a> that any suggestion that the government wants to ban gas stoves is \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials from the Biden Justice Department and DOE notably filed a June 2023 amicus brief<\/a> with the Ninth Circuit asking the court to reverse its decision that overturned Berkeley\u2019s 2019 gas hookups ban, but the court ruled<\/a> in January that it would not be revisiting that decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe City of Berkeley, whose natural gas ban was recently struck down by the 9th Circuit, now wants to try imposing a tax on facilities that use natural gas,\u201d Steve Everley, a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, wrote in a Wednesday post<\/a> to X, referencing The Daily Californian\u2019s story. \u201cBut remember, no one is trying to ban gas stoves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arregu\u00edn and City Council Members Rashi Kesarwani, Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett, Sophie Hahn, Susan Wengraf, Cecilia Lunaparra and Mark Humbert did not respond immediately to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter\u2019s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A deep blue city in California is teeing up a tax on larger buildings that use natural gas after a federal court rejected the city\u2019s attempt to ban gas hookups and stoves, according to The Daily 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Effort To Ban Gas Stoves","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A federal appellate court ruled Tuesday that it would not reconsider an earlier decision that prevents the city of Berkeley, California, from enforcing its de facto ban on installing gas-powered appliances in new buildings.","rel":"","context":"In \"appeals\"","block_context":{"text":"appeals","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=appeals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Natural_gas_flames_on_a_stove_cooktop.original.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Natural_gas_flames_on_a_stove_cooktop.original.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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