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Officials on a regional air quality board are rethinking a proposal to ban buying new gas-powered water heaters and furnaces in Orange County and three neighboring counties after local officials warn such a move would create cost burdens for residents.
In an effort to reduce air pollution across Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, regional air quality officials were expected to consider creating two new rules aimed at reducing emissions from gas-powered furnaces and water heaters.
Now, South Coast Air Quality Management District officials and staff are making revisions to the proposed ban and instead looking at creating compliance goals for manufacturers in the area to decrease the amount of new gas-powered appliances they sell.
Under the revised proposal, 90% of the water heaters and furnaces created in the region would have to be electric by 2036 and manufacturers who fall out of that threshold will be charged a fee.
It’s something air quality officials are expected to continue to discuss at the 10:30 a.m. Friday meeting that can be live streamed via Zoom or attended in person at the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s headquarters in Diamond Bar.
The district is responsible for improving air quality in a region that is home to 17 million people or roughly 44% of the state’s population.
Proponents of the proposed ban like environmentalist groups argued a transition to zero emission appliances will prevent thousands of premature deaths, emergency room visits and onset asthma.
[Read: Orange County’s Poor Residents Most At Risk from Bad Air Quality]
Critics like Santa Ana City Councilman David Penaloza argue such a ban will create significant financial burdens for residents while barely improving air quality, drive up construction costs amid a statewide housing affordability crisis and overwhelm the electrical grid.
“The rules that they’ve proposed and the changes they’ve now made, that language is still not made public,” he said about the proposed changes at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“Until that language is made public, and we know for certain what these amended rules mean I cannot, in good conscience, vote on something or support something that I know is going to have economic challenges to our residents.”
Santa Ana’s median household income is roughly $88,000 and about 11% of residents live under the poverty line, according to Census data.
In contrast, Orange County’s median household income is roughly $113,000 and about 9% of countywide residents live in poverty.
Santa Ana officials directed staff to monitor the air quality district’s proposed rules on gas powered appliances and analyze the potential impacts it could have on residents.
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez said she recognizes the cost concerns, but reducing greenhouse gas emissions is important to safeguarding public health and improving air quality.
“Most of the folks that I speak with will say that climate change is happening now, and we’re seeing more extreme heat, wildfires and air pollution affecting a lot of different communities now,” she said.
Santa Ana officials weren’t the only ones to discuss the proposed changes by the air quality board.
At their Tuesday meeting, Yorba Linda City Council members voted 4-0 to direct city staff to draft a letter strongly opposing the proposed ban and inform residents about the expected changes.
Council member Carlos Rodriguez, who sits on the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s governing board, abstained from the vote.
Yorba Linda officials Tuesday expressed concerns similar to those of other Orange County cities, regarding the burden that the proposed changes would bring to residents, publicly worrying that manufacturers will pass down increased costs to the consumer.
“I don’t know if oppose is a strong enough word for how I feel about this regulation and I think this entire proposal should be off the table,” Yorba Linda Council Member Peggy Huang said.
“The rats that are just spinning the wheels here are just obviously not using their brain. I think this is absolutely ridiculous,” she said.
Council Member Tara Campbell added that she was concerned that residents are not adequately informed of these changes, proposing that the city should explore posting information to social media and its newsletter.
Campbell also said the proposed ban could create financial hardships for many residents and the push back is causing air quality district officials to step back.
“We have a lot of community members who are on fixed incomes. We have a lot of seniors who are on fixed incomes. If they have to now go electric we’re talking about a 10,000 $20,000 charge,” she said.
About 20% of the city’s population is 65-years and older, according to Census data.
“The staff at the (Air Quality Management District) are changing their tune on this rule. We can’t let up,” Campbell said.
The air quality district’s proposed changes come after a state board decided a couple years ago to implement a similar ban by the turn of the decade.
In 2022, the California Air Resources Board voted to ban the sale of new gas-powered water heaters and furnaces starting in 2030.
The decision was made to comply with EPA regulations that seek to limit ozone in the atmosphere to 70 parts per billion, a standard which many California cities exceed.
Banning New Gas-Powered Water Heaters & Furnaces
Business interests and officials in cities across the South Coast region have written letters or adopted resolutions against the air quality board’s proposed ban including Chino Hills, Colton, La Verne, Glendora, Lake Elsinore, Loma Linda, and Chino.
In January, officials in Brea and Lake Forest announced their opposition to the proposed gas water heater and furnace ban, citing concerns about the cost and scale of implementing these changes.
Brea Mayor Blair Stewart said the high cost to comply with the ban will impact thousands of families in his city.
“The high costs of compliance will force the owners of older multifamily properties to sell or redevelop their properties, subsequently resulting in a dramatic reduction in the availability of affordable housing in our city and across the region,” Stewart wrote in a Jan. 24 letter to the South Coast Air Quality Management District
The Orange County Business Council and the Orange County Council of Governments are also against the ban.
The pushback led regional air quality officials to look at alternatives to outright banning the gas-powered appliances.
This is despite environmental groups like Climate Action Campaign, Communities for a Better Environment, Sierra Club, and Breathe Southern California advocating in support of the ban to help reduce pollution.
A couple of advocates and Santa Ana residents like Erica Gonzalez, the finance director for OC Environmental Justice, spoke out at Santa Ana’s Tuesday city council meeting arguing that the proposed ban would save lives.
“By electrifying gas appliances like water heaters and furnaces,” she said. “We have a unique opportunity to reduce our exposure to toxic emissions known for causing asthma, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.”
South Coast Air Quality Management District board members are expected to hold a public hearing on the proposed rules on May 2.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
Rubén Montoya is a Voice of OC intern. You can reach him at rubenmontoya47@outlook.com or on Twitter @Rmontoya47.
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