(Oil & Gas 360)—One of the more closely watched state initiatives in this election with potential national ramifications is one in Washington State that would make it more difficult and costly to use natural gas in housing construction and business operations.
Initiative 2066 seeks to protect energy consumers’ rights to have a natural gas option for power. While Washington state has not outlawed fuel use per se, its building code council has made it very expensive to install gas applications in new buildings.
The statewide ballot question follows similar building code changes in Denver two years ago, via the city’s “Energize Denver” ordinance to phase out natural gas appliances for new commercial and multifamily buildings. The Denver policy is facing legal challenges from various business groups, contending that the city’s edict conflicts with federal efficiency laws and is too expensive.
An even earlier attempt was adopted five years ago in Berkeley, California, a move emulated by about six dozen other California cities. Last year, a federal court reversed Berkeley’s natural gas ban.
Washington’s state energy plan targets reducing carbon emissions below what they were almost 35 years ago. The state’s population has risen by over 3.3 million people to nearly eight million since then. Among those opposing the legislation are the Washington Hospitality Association and the Building Industry Association of Washington
Proponents of 2066 note that nearly 85% of restaurants in the state use natural gas and say retrofitting to go fully electric is prohibitively expensive. Restaurants have been one of the industries most impacted by the COVID lockdowns and have experienced some of the highest foreclosure rates of any industry since then.
Building and real estate experts say removing natural gas hookups will make housing even more expensive. Only Hawaii, California, and Maryland have higher real estate prices. In agriculture, there is concern that going all-electric would add to the cost of refrigeration.
Hydroelectric is basically maximized in the state because of environmental protections, and adding more dams is virtually impossible.
The local PBS station in Olympia shows that the initiative to preserve natural gas is favored, though barely, at 51%.
New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, and the District of Columbia have all sought to restrict the availability of natural gas in new construction.
By Jim Felton for oilandgas360.com
