The City of Eugene, Oregon will join other local governments across the country to phase out gas appliances in some types of new construction in an effort to reduce air pollution.
The Eugene City Council approved the measure by a vote of 5-3 Monday night. The ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the state, prohibits natural gas connections in new construction of residences three stories or less.
Existing buildings are not affected by the new requirements.
Council members in favor said the measure would reduce carbon emissions and eliminate the air quality hazards of gas stoves, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
“We have a governor who has committed to building 36,000 new homes a year,” Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis said. “We don’t want those houses with natural gas hookups.”
Councilman Mike Clark said the change will discourage developers.
OREGON LEGISLATORS CONSIDER CUTTING MILLIONS OF ADDICTION SERVICES AFTER DECRIMINALIZING DRUGS
Eugene, Oregon is phasing out gas use within the city.
There is good evidence that gas stoves emit harmful levels of nitrogen oxides, which are known to cause asthma, Dr. Aaron Bernstein, acting director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the School of Health Public Harvard’s TH Chan said last month.
Research has found that gas stoves in California leak cancer-causing benzene, while another study has determined that gas stoves in the US are contributing to global warming by emitting 2.6 million tons of methane in the air every year, even when they are off.
‘OUR CITY IS IN DANGER’: PORTLAND BUSINESS OWNERS DEMAND MORE ACTION WHILE CRIMINALS ‘CREATE HAZARD’
In a statement Tuesday, Jerrel Brown, NAACP Eugene-Springfield climate and environmental justice organizer, said Eugene had taken an important step toward increasing access to healthy, all-electric homes.
“Communities of color in Eugene are more likely to breathe dangerous air in our neighborhoods: our homes should be places of refuge, not just another source of pollution for overburdened lungs,” Brown said.
Dozens of local governments across the country have moved to restrict gas use in some types of new construction, including in Seattle and Bellingham, Washington, and San Francisco and Berkeley, California.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Multnomah County, home to Portland, passed a resolution in 2021 to ban the use of fossil fuels such as natural gas in new and remodeled county buildings.
Some federal legislators have called for addressing the potential health risks of using natural gas through regulation, such as requiring gas stoves to be sold with exhaust hoods to improve ventilation or issuing mandatory performance standards for stoves. Of gas.
