The Biden administration insists the president is not coming for Americans' gas stoves, but that isn't true, as the Department of Energy is "pushing an extreme regulation that would effectively eliminate nearly all gas stoves," Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., wrote in a Tuesday opinion piece.
"The White House even insisted that President Joe Biden does not support a ban on gas stoves after one of his federal consumer safety officials suggested that such a ban was on the table," Lesko wrote in The Washington Examiner.
"But, as we are seeing in so many other instances, Republicans were right all along. President Joe Biden's Department of Energy is, in fact, pushing an extreme regulation that would effectively eliminate nearly all gas stoves."
Lesko said the DOE is pushing a rule to impose requirements on residential cooktops at the maximum that is technologically feasible, or the "max-tech" level.
Currently, cooktops at that level represent 4% of the market share while excluding all conventional free-stand ranges, but the proposed rule would cause "96% of the products to be eliminated from the market" and "is an extreme regulation," said Lesko.
"In fact, it is essentially an outright ban on gas stoves," the Lesko wrote.
The proposed standard will require manufacturers to make "dramatic design changes," Lesko added, including producing smaller burners that will result in longer cooking times, and that consumers are not likely to approve such changes.
"Comically, Biden's Department of Energy is justifying this proposed requirement based on estimated savings to the consumer for gas cooktops of $21.89 over the next 14.5 years, which equates to a savings of just $1.50 per year," Lesko wrote. "People are not willing to trade such substantially decreased functionality and features for minuscule savings."
The proposal also shows how the Biden administration is proving it's "out of touch with the average American," Lesko said.
"This radical proposal from the Department of Energy is open for public comment," she concluded. "The public should tell the Biden administration to keep their hands off gas stoves."
Comments on the proposal can be submitted via Regulations.gov through April 3.