Yesterday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced an energy plan to get the state carbon neutral by 2050. While there is some uncertainty as to whether or not the plan would require the state to close down natural-gas fired power plants or merely offset the emissions, it’s certainly not welcome news for the gas industry, who is facing outright bans on its products in various cities.
The industry is certainly feeling the heat, as evidenced by Tom DiChristopher’s reporting in SPGlobal. At a recent industry event, the American Gas Association discussed how it intends to fight back on these bans, as well as the threat posed by the Green New Deal.
Apparently the industry was caught off-guard by the bans in cities in California, Massachusetts and Washington, and Gov Cuomo’s pipeline moratorium in New York, but is now in the “mobilization phase,” recruiting groups to fight on their behalf at the local level.
We’ve already seen some in the restaurant industry take action against the bans, but gas companies are also looking to real estate developers, contractors, unions, the eldery on a fixed income, appliance companies and fireplace manufacturers to carry their message.
Some of those groups make more sense than others to entice, as companies that make fake fireplaces that burn gas obviously won’t support a ban. Others, though, are more of a stretch. The concept that “if electric appliances are required when renovating, people simply won’t renovate” is probably not going to be particularly persuasive for contractors. After all, if you can afford the cost to renovate you’re probably getting new appliances anyway. Whether the oven they install is electric or gas, it’s likely all the same to a contractor.
Nevertheless, we can’t wait to see what sort of greenwashing–sorry, false advertising–the industry does once it builds its coalition.
Perhaps one of those elderly people will explain to their grandchildren that they don’t care if their inheritance is a world on fire, so long as Grandpa can keep his furnace heat set to 85F, even though it never drops below 70F any more.
Or maybe a chef could explain just how important the grill marks are for your steak. After all, if not for cooking over a flame, how else would you get that delicious, cancer-causing char-grilled sear?
Seriously though, the political clout the gas industry is tapping into when it cements an alliance with Big Fireplace, as it’s sacred place at the center of Christmas tradition, is definitely a Claus for concern…
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