EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., is pushing back against the Biden administration’s regulations targeting popular home appliances including natural gas-powered furnaces and stoves.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Manchin criticized the Department of Energy (DOE) for its aggressive energy efficiency regulations, arguing that the agency should allow the free market to improve product technology instead of forcing such change by regulation. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, expressed concern over policies aimed at electrifying gas appliances.
“It absolutely shows you how disconnected the [DOE] is with the facts and reality of what’s going on in the grid system,” Manchin told Fox News Digital. “There’s been a lot of warning from us. [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] and [North American Electric Reliability Corporation] and everything else the grid is hard to tell.”
“And we’re taking more dispatchable power off the grid. That means 24/7, mostly fossil — because of the movement of this administration. It is putting us in the danger zone, the grid,” he continued. “With all the movement and need for more electric appliances to replace gas whether it’s a stove or a furnace. It’s completely nonsensical and not fact-checked. Absolutely not.”
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Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., speaks to reporters outside the US Capitol. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Over the past few months, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has released new standards for a variety of appliances including clothes washers, refrigerators, air conditioners and dishwashers. The administration boasted in December that it had taken 110 actions on energy efficiency rules by 2022 alone as part of its climate agenda.
The agency has taken particular aim at gas-fired appliances in an effort to curb carbon emissions and tackle global warming. Climate activists have argued that electrification, banning natural gas hookups and enforcing strict energy efficiency standards could reduce reliance on fossil fuels, but experts have expressed concern that the such a shift could strain the electricity grid and lead to increased consumer costs.
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In February, the DOE proposed gas stove rules that, if implemented, would remove an estimated 50% of current stove models from the market. And the agency is expected to soon finalize gas furnace regulations that are expected to eliminate 60% of existing models.
“You can’t weed your way into a cleaner environment,” Manchin said. “It won’t work. It can’t be done. It won’t be done. The rest of the world won’t follow and Asia will emit about 90% of all pollution in the next ten years. That’s where all the pollution is coming from. Innovation is the only way to go. If you want a clean environment, you have to do it through technology and innovation.”
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The Biden administration is expected to soon finalize regulations it proposes would remove 60% of cheaper gas furnace models from the market. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images | George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“People want efficiency, but they also want reliability,” the West Virginia senator added. “If I can buy something that I used to replace it and do it as well, if not better, and make it cleaner and cheaper, there’s not a bit of a problem with that. The market will change. But it’s forced, assuming punishment and you’re going to force people before the technology is implemented — I say if it can’t be done, it doesn’t make sense.”
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In February, Manchin and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act that would prevent new federal regulations restricting which gas stoves Americans can buy. Manchin said he expects the bill to receive a vote with Democratic support.
“Telling me I can’t buy something because you want the market to change and move to something else and it’s not going to have a corresponding change in the environment is absolutely ridiculous,” Manchin continued. “That’s where you get all the pushback. I’m going to be pushing back.”
“I can assure you in our committee, we’re not supporting any of the craziness.”