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Kentucky Lantern

Kentucky’s Daniel Cameron joined a coalition of 22 state attorneys general in opposing a proposed federal regulation on the sale of gas stoves currently on the market.

The move from the group of state officials is in response to a Department of Energy proposal to require efficiency standards for cooktop appliances. Growing evidence shows gas stoves can produce dangerous indoor air pollution.

The attorneys general say the federal regulation would make many gas stoves currently on the market “illegal.”

“The Biden Administration has proposed a rule that would make the use of many gas stoves illegal,” said Attorney General Cameron in a press release from his office. “This policy is unconstitutional and out of touch with the needs of average Kentuckians and Americans. We joined this letter to oppose this overreaching regulation.”

The letter claims the DOE standards “represent another attempt by this Administration to micromanage the lives of Americans — and there is little to support this claim of regulatory authority.”

Last month, two U.S. senators — Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas — proposed legislation, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, which would prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission from using federal dollars to ban new or existing gas stoves. In January, the American Public Health Association called on some federal agencies to acknowledge “links between gas stove emissions, nitrogen oxide (or NO₂) pollution and the increased risks of illness for children, older adults and people with underlying conditions,” Inside Climate News reported.

According to media reports, a White House spokesperson has said President Joe Biden does not support banning gas stoves.

In signing the letter, Cameron, who is one of 12 Republicans running for Kentucky governor, joined attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.