A coalition of gas companies and their supporters have partnered with restaurant associations to ensure the right for chefs to cook with gas. The coalition has made headway in several prominent communities and is now planning to confront rules across the western US to limit the installation of gas stoves in new buildings.The restaurant association advocacy to perpetuate gas stove use is dangerous — cities and states need to reduce gas combustion in buildings, not increase access to it.
We’ve been writing about the behind-the-scenes natural gas lobbying for some time. In fact, our intrepid reporter, Steve Hanley, has chronicled how, for more than 50 years, the natural gas industry“Gas stove pollution is like having a chain-smoking roommate in your kitchen. With each use, it releases harmful pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde, just like constant puffs of smoke filling the air.
The natural gas industry launched a barrage of attacks on scientific findings that cooking with natural gas carries health risks to humans. The gas industry funded their own epidemiological studies. By making spurious complaints against academic studies, framing discussion of the issue as “reckless,” and hiring influencers to push back against the latest evidence, the natural gas industry influenced public opinion and advocated against gas stove regulatory action.
Some businesses are already listening. Chipotle Mexican Grill is moving forward with cooking with electricity and has vowed to halve climate-warming emissions from its 3,500 restaurants by 2030. It has announced a new all-electric kitchen design that it plans to implement at over 100 locations this year.. “No other technology we’ve tested is speedier.”