After recent reports showed a federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves due to alleged pollutants, one energy expert and chef and restaurateur slammed the “recipe for disaster” and cautioned that the move could hurt struggling businesses.
“It’s just a recipe for disaster. It’s another example of government reaching into every facet of our lives, now they’re coming for our stoves,” former U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Neil Chatterjee said on “The Evening Edit” Tuesday. “You got to be kidding me. Let consumers decide. The government should not be telling us how to cook our food.”
“I genuinely think we have completely lost our minds,” Chef Andrew Gruel also told FOX Business’ Dagen McDowell Tuesday night. “So the idea now is, is that if we want an end – and the end is obviously get rid of gas stoves, get rid of fossil fuels, everything has to be electric, renewable now – they’re going to create as many stories as they can and then try and piece together statistics that really have no connection to at least get the headline that everybody can glom onto.”
“I will be trapping myself within my stove and protesting until this gets out of the minds of the collective,” the chef continued.
AMERICAN GAS ASSOCIATION FIRES BACK ON POTENTIAL GAS STOVE BAN: ‘NOT SUBSTANTIATED BY SOUND SCIENCE’
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is planning to act on gas stove appliances as concerns surrounding indoor air pollutants from the appliances continue to rise, according to reports from Bloomberg. Agency commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg gas stoves are a “hidden hazard” for respiratory and other health issues.
Roughly 35% of homes in the U.S. have gas stoves that, according to reports, release carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other matter that the World Health Organization and EPA deemed unsafe because they can potentially cause cardiovascular problems, cancer and other health conditions.
“If we’re cutting out natural gas, well, then where is all this electricity coming from? It’s coming from coal, it’s coming from natural gas in a centralized area, which means it’s less efficient and that much worse for the environment. So it’s actually a net negative,” Gruel slammed.
The federal agency cited a recent study by insight group RMI, which found gas stoves can emit elevated indoor nitrogen dioxide levels and exacerbate conditions like asthma in adults and children.
“The organization that funded this study, RMI, is an environmental think tank whose mission, right on their website, states that they want to get rid of all natural gas, anything so that they can reduce all greenhouse emissions,” Gruel explained. “And obviously it’s in their financial benefit to create a study that shows why we need to do this. So all of this is junk.”
Gruel, the visionary behind California culinary staples like Big Parm and Two Birds, further argued that many restaurants can’t operate without gas stoves not only for functionality reasons, but also for smoky flavor and cultural cooking styles.
“You’re going to have restaurants that are just fully equipped with microwaves. You cannot commercially cook food without gas right now the way the system is set up,” Gruel said. “And then even if induction, which is really kind of some sort of cookery for the future, takes on these new and more innovative ways to be able to commercialize it in a grand scale, it’s still not going to happen… we’re living in a tragic comedy.”
For those who want to convert their gas ranges to induction or electric, the Inflation Reduction Act signed in August offers rebates up to $840 for the purchase of new electric ranges. The inclusion was part of about $4.5 billion earmarked for helping low-to-moderate-income households electrify their homes.
But Chef Gruel warned not every establishment can afford to make that switch.
“You’ve seen now with the mass exodus out of the cities that have already done this, is that they’ve really and quite literally whitewashed their restaurant communities. You’re going to have an Applebee’s on every single corner. You’re going to be eating good in the neighborhood by pressing buttons on your microwave,” the chef said. “It will hurt lower income communities.”
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Politicians seem to be divided on the gas stove issue: In October, Democratic Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor installed a new gas line and gas-powered fireplace in his home, despite pushes by the city to phase out fossil fuel usage and boost electrification. On the other hand, Bloomberg reported that lawmakers like Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., sent a letter to Consumer Reports in December, requesting the consideration of warning labels, range hoods and performance standards.
“The problem becomes when they choose to apply the rules to thee, but not for me. It’s the same thing, the First Lady’s tweeting out pictures, cooking on a gas stove,” Chatterjee said. “I think Americans are fine with people using gas stoves and flying places, they just don’t want the government telling them,, ‘Well, we can do it, you can’t.’”
FOX Business’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.