After campaigning on a promise to “transition away from the use of fossil fuels like methane gas in homes and commercial buildings,” Oregon’s Democrat Governor Tina Kotek is having a dual natural gas and propane backup generator installed at Mahonia Hall, the official residence of the governor.
According to the official bid for work at the governor’s mansion in the capital city of Salem, the “project includes updating the utility service with backup emergency dual natural gas and propane. Adds a full building services generator to the facility for power, should normal utility power fail.”
The Salem permit describes the project as, “Adding piping from existing NG [natural gas] utilities to [the] new generator.”
Bad Timing
The project comes to light as the debate over banning natural gas in homes and buildings heats up across the nation, and just weeks after Eugene became the first Oregon city to ban natural gas hookups in all new construction.Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis applauded the Feb. 6 city council vote, saying that “burning fossil fuels in homes pose an imminent threat to our health and climate.”
“It’s clear we cannot let this source of pollution grow unchecked,” she added.
Vinis also expressed her support for the governor’s leadership on the state’s housing shortage while denouncing the use of fossil fuels.
“We have a governor who has pledged to build 36,000 new houses a year,“ said Vinis in a public statement signing the ordinance. ”We do not want those houses with natural gas hookups.”
Backers of the ban say they are just getting started.
Councilor Jennifer Yeh called the resolution “just a first step” to a fossil-fuel-free Eugene.
She expects the city to expand the restrictions to commercial and industrial buildings as well.
“It’s going to be slow, and it’s going to take us decades, but we have to start moving and this is that movement.”
According to DHM Research, 70 percent of those surveyed oppose the Eugene gas ban. A citizen petition is now being circulated to put the issue on the ballot in May.
Meanwhile, bans are being considered elsewhere in the state.
Officials in Multnomah County—where most of Portland is located—have passed a nonbinding resolution to stop using fossil fuels in new city-owned buildings, and the city of Milwaukie has made a similar pledge for new privately owned properties.
Battle of the Bans
Since Berkeley enacted the nation’s first gas ban in 2019, several dozen west coast cities—including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle—have followed suit.Such actions are also taking hold on the East Coast.
In Dec 2021, New York became the first large cold-weather city to phase out fossil fuel in new construction. Washington soon followed.
Gas Stove Ban on Back Burner
Talk of federal government bans on gas stoves recently ignited a firestorm of controversy.Late last year, Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) member Richard Trumka Jr. suggested that the agency should develop new regulations on gas stove emissions and should not rule out an end to sales of the product.
As of 2020, about 38 percent of the country’s households used natural gas for cooking, according to Census data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That number reaches 70 percent in some states.
“This is a hidden hazard,” Trumka said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
His statement put gas stoves at the center of the culture wars.
CPSC chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric quickly disavowed the idea of a federal gas-stove ban but acknowledged research finding that gas stoves may pose air-quality hazards.
The CPSC is now gathering information and public comment about the hazards posed by gas stoves and could consider barring the manufacture or import of gas stoves and setting standards on emissions from the appliances in the future.
