Roughly 17 million Southern California residents won’t have to worry about switching over to electric-powered water heaters and furnaces and incurring thousands of dollars in handyman bills.
At least for now.
It’s a proposal that’s pitting environmental groups against many elected officials.
Activists say the improved air quality from the switch will lead to better health, local officials argue that while reducing pollution is important, the costs to transition to electric appliances are too high for residents.
Now, regional air quality leaders are stepping away from a proposal to gradually dial back how many gas-powered water heaters and furnaces manufacturers can sell in Southern California for now amid intense pushback from local leaders and residents.
The proposed regulations – intended to prevent deaths and decrease pollution in one of the most polluted regions in the country – have faced criticism from elected officials across the region who worry that switching to electric heaters would burden residents with high costs.
Regional air quality officials estimate that a switch from gas to electric water heaters could cost residents up to $7,000.
On Friday, South Coast Air Quality Management District’s governing board narrowly voted 7-5 to back away from two proposals to regulate how many gas-powered water heaters and furnaces can be sold in the coming years.
“I, like everybody here, support clean air. We all do, but we must also pursue environmental progress without punishing the very people we serve today. These rules don’t target refineries or shipping ports,” said Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who sits on the air quality board, at Friday’s meeting.
“17 million residents of the four counties represented here on this board – we’re already burdened (by) the high cost of housing.”
Board member Nithya Raman, a Los Angeles city councilwoman who voted for the proposal, said there would be opportunities to adjust the proposals after they are adopted.
“Since my time on this board, there is no rule that we have discussed that will have as much impact on the air that people are breathing in this region than this rule that we are considering,” she said at the meeting
“It would be a grave error not to move this forward with the commitment that we will always come back to it and review our work and make sure that we’re doing right by the people.”
A majority of the board later voted to resend the proposals to a district committee for further revisions – something Board Chair Vanessa Delgado said wouldn’t come back to the board until at least next year.
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 – covering Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Friday’s vote comes after about 250 people registered to speak in person and online on the proposed regulations including elected officials, realtors, utility workers, business interests, environmental activists and residents from across the region.
Many of those who spoke at the meeting voiced support for the regulations to protect the health of residents and urged elected officials to not cater to special interests and companies like SoCalGas and audience members held signs some of which read “Healthy Homes.”
Scores of others voiced opposition to the proposals, expressing concerns about how it would impact working class families financially and said they’d make it harder for people to buy a home as well as the impact it would have on California’s electrical grid.
Prior to the vote, air quality board members kicked the public hearing on the proposed rules to the end of their agenda and cut public comment time to 45 seconds per speaker.
The Battle Over Electric Furnaces and Water Heaters
South Coast Air Quality Management District leaders have argued the proposed regulations would reduce an estimated 6 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions a day – reducing pollution, protecting public health and preventing nearly 2,500 premature deaths in the region.
They also said the revised proposal still allows residents to pick between using gas-powered appliances and zero emission electric ones.
Officials also say there will be rebates for people who make the transition.
Elected officials across Orange County and the Southern California region have continuously raised concerns that switching from gas to electric heating appliances will be too costly for residents and strain the electric grid.
[Read: Orange County Opposes Proposed Regional Gas-Powered Water Heater Crackdown]
Dana Point City Councilman John Gabbard said the regulations threaten to impose heavy cost burdens on people across the region and the state of California.
“These proposals, while perhaps well intended in their aim to protect the air, place an enormous economic burden on the people, especially our seniors, renters and low income houses requiring excessive, costly renovations,” Gabbard said at Friday’s meeting.
“Let us remember that the road to better environmental practices does not lie solely with heavy handed regulations, but through tax incentives for all sectors.”
The Orange County Board of Supervisors and officials in cities across the county including Anaheim, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Fullerton, Dana Point, Yorba Linda, Brea, Lake Forest and Villa Park have come out against the switch.
[Read: Orange County Supervisors Lambast Gas-Powered Water Heater Crackdown]
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli sent a letter to the district threatening a lawsuit if the proposals are adopted.
“The United States government is committed to the removal of illegitimate impediments to the use of domestic energy resources, including natural gas,” Essayli wrote in a June 4 letter.
“Please be advised that if PAR 1111 and 1121 (the regulations) pass, my Office is prepared to take all steps necessary to enforce federal law, including filing a civil action seeking any and all available relief, including injunctive relief, monetary damages, and penalties.”
At the same time, several environmental groups in the region including the Sierra Club, Climate Action Campaign, Earthjustice, California Environment Voters and Breathe Southern California have supported the regulations
Proponents, including environmental activists, say a transition to zero emission appliances would significantly reduce air pollution and prevent thousands of premature deaths, emergency room visits and onset asthma.
Aura Vasquez, a member of Building Electrification Coalition, said the regulations are important to protect the health of residents and future generations and quell the emissions of Nitrogen Oxides pollutants (NOx).
“A silent killer from these appliances is making our elders and young people sick,” she said in an interview before Friday’s meeting.
“It’s time to really dismantle the idea that gas is our friend and is our helper, it’s actually hindering our community. It is making us sick, it is causing heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and it’s time to move on to something more modern and better for our health.”
Vasquez also said the cost of health is priceless.
“When people come at us with this is costly, we tell them that their health is important,” she said, adding there will be rebates to help people make the switch to electric appliances.
Initially, air quality officials had proposed banning the sale of new gas powered water heaters and furnaces entirely but altered the proposal amid widespread criticism from local leaders that rewiring homes to transition to the electric appliances would financially burden residents.
Following the pushback, they revised the proposal to instead gradually dial back how many gas powered water heaters and furnace manufacturers can sell until 90% of the appliances sold in the region are considered zero emission starting in 2036.
[Read: Will Gas-Powered Water Heaters be Banned in Orange County?]
According to the American Lung Association, Orange County has a failing grade when it comes to the state of its air quality.
Around 219,000 adults and nearly 41,000 kids in the county have asthma, according to the association.
The Proposal & The Cost
Under the revised proposal from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, 30% of water heaters and furnaces sold in the region would have to be zero emission appliances by 2027-2028.
That threshold would increase over the years and by 2036, 90% of the water heaters and furnaces sold in the region would have to be electric.
The proposal would also require manufacturers to pay $100 for all gas furnaces and $50 for all gas water heaters after 2027 as part of a mitigation fee.
Manufacturers would also have to pay $500 for every gas powered furnace and $250 for every gas powered water heater that exceeds the year’s threshold and get a discounted fee if they meet the zero emission threshold.
The money collected from the fee could go toward helping fund the Go Zero initiative – a $21 million pilot incentive program by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to offer rebates to families and small businesses that convert to zero emission appliances.
At the same time, regional air quality officials estimate it will cost $19,000 for a single family home to buy, make any electrical upgrades and install a zero emission space heater – officials project the same price for the current gas-powered furnaces.
For a multifamily home it is estimated to cost between $5,000 to $10,000 for a zero emission space heater and between $3,000 to $8,000 for a gas heater.
Regional air quality officials estimate it will cost $4,000 to $7,000 to buy, make electrical upgrades and install a zero emission water heater and $3,300 to buy and install a gas water heater.
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.