Air board rejects smog rules phasing out gas-powered heaters in LA basin

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After a contentious, five-hour hearing, Southern California air quality regulators rejected measures that would have phased out residential gas-powered water heaters and furnaces in the Los Angeles basin. 

The two rules, designed to clean up one of the biggest sources of the region’s severe smog, would have set increasing targets for sales of zero-emission products in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties over the next decade — beginning with 30% in 2027. The targets would not have been mandatory, although manufacturers would pay fees for each natural gas water heater or furnace they sell.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board in a 7-5 vote rejected its boldest smog-fighting proposal in years. The decision, driven mostly by concerns about affordability, was a rare rebuke of measures proposed by the agency’s staff, which came after years of compromise and efforts to scale back what originally was a mandate phasing out the polluting heaters.

The board voted 7-4 to send the two proposed rules back to a committee, which means any new version likely won’t be considered until next year.  

An overflow crowd of several hundred people attended today’s hearing, with more than 200 people testifying. In addition, the agency received more than 30,000 written comments, fueled by an aggressive push of opposition from the gas and building industries. 

“Despite not being called a mandate, the rules would force on consumers electric units that are more expensive upfront to purchase, may require costly panel upgrades and are more costly to operate with rate increases being sought by providers,” said Chino Mayor Pro Tem Chris Burton, adding that the electric heat pumps also would add demand to an already stressed grid.

The Trump administration’s Justice Department warned the air district in a letter Thursday that it would sue to block the rules.

“California regulators are on notice: if you pass illegal bans or penalties on gas appliances, we’ll see you in court. The law is clear—feds set energy policy, not unelected climate bureaucrats,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. a former California state Assemblymember, said on X.

Chis Chavez, deputy policy director with the environmental group Coalition for Clean Air, gave impassioned comments to the board after the vote. 

“Simply put, you have failed,” Chavez said, raising his voice to the board. “For this failure you are now inviting federal sanctions, limits on industry, limits on economic activity, and those are consequences you will have brought on yourself.”

Opponents criticized the measures as governmental overreach that will limit consumers’ choices and drive up costs for residents, businesses and landlords. 

The South Coast district’s 12-member governing board — made up largely of city and county elected officials — was heavily divided.

“What struck me today is a singular focus on housing costs and overall costs and the reality is in the state of California, health care costs are increasing at a greater rate than housing increases,” said board member Holly Mitchell, a Los Angeles County supervisor. “We do have to make tough decisions on behalf of the greater good every day. We have a responsibility…to get us on a path to cleaner air.”

Orange County, Inland Empire officials voted no

All  six representatives from Orange County and the Inland Empire voted against the measures, along with the board member representing western Los Angeles County cities. Members representing the state Senate, Assembly, city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County eastern cities and Los Angeles County Supervisors voted in favor.

“I think this mandate hits really hard for disadvantaged and fixed income residents,” said board member Janet Nguyen, an Orange County supervisor, saying it could cost residents tens of thousands of dollars to buy the electric heaters and rewire their homes. “I think we also need to be diligent given the (Justice Department’s) formal warning.”

The measures wouldn’t have required people to get rid of old heaters and would not have banned new natural gas ones. Instead, they were designed to allow consumers to choose between electric heat pumps or natural gas appliances while penalizing manufacturers for selling ones that pollute the air.

Fernando Gaytan, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, urged the board to approve the measures despite what he called the U.S. attorney general’s “grandstanding” in his letter to the board.  

“Failing to adopt this standard because of the Trump administration’s bullying will only encourage efforts to ignore the law,” Gaytan said. “It will only embolden oil and gas industry interests to ramp up the misinformation campaign to derail lifesaving regulations. Let’s be clear, this rule is not a ban. It’s not even a mandate.”

Under the rules’ sales targets, 30% of residential and commercial water heaters and furnaces sold in 2027 would be zero-emissions, ramping up to 50% in 2029, 75% in 2033 and 90% in 2036. Manufacturers would pay fees between $500 and $50 for each natural gas one sold in the region. The fees would be used to help low-income households purchase the zero emission appliances. 

Air board member and Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman said the early targets would essentially match where the market already is in terms of selling zero-emission heat pumps.

“I know this is a period of uncertainty but there is time built into the structure of the rule. I think 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, ” she said.

Based on the lifetime of these appliances — 25 years for heating systems and 15 years for water heaters — about half a million would have been replaced annually in the region, according to the air district. The district expects 90% of all water heaters and furnaces in the region will be zero emissions by 2061. 

The cost of buying and installing an electric heat pump to replace natural gas appliances varies, depending on what people need: Replacing an entire HVAC system with a heat pump would cost consumers about the same or even less than a natural gas system, according to the South Coast district’s estimate. But installing a heat pump instead of a natural gas water heater would cost $2,000 more, and replacing just a furnace would cost $8,000 more.

Air quality officials say consumers would save money by switching to electric heaters. Between 2027 and 2061, residents in the four-county region would have collectively saved an annual average of between $191 million and $250 million on utility bill costs by switching from natural gas to electricity, according to the district’s estimate.

Residential heaters emit as much pollution as oil refineries and power plants

The region’s 10 million water heaters and furnaces are among the largest sources of smog-causing gases in the L.A. basin, emitting almost 7 tons a day of nitrogen oxides.

The measures would have eliminated 2.2 tons of nitrogen oxides a day by 2037 and 6 tons a day by 2061, according to the district’s data. In comparison, in 2037, oil refineries will emit 2 to 3 tons per day, utilities 4 tons per day and vehicles 7 tons per day, based on projections by the air district. Vehicles, oil facilities, power plants and other industrial sources have already been regulated for decades.

Nitrogen oxides react with other gases in the air and bake in the sun to form ozone, the main ingredient of smog, which causes asthma attacks and other health effects. The appliances also pollute indoor air, raising the risk of respiratory problems, and emit fine particles linked to heart attacks and other health effects.

The reduction in pollution would prevent about 2,500 premature deaths, 2,500 emergency room visits and 10,000 cases of asthma, and save $25 billion in health costs, according to the district’s data. 

“I’ve seen firsthand how families in my community are forced to live with the health consequences of dirty air. Our children grow up with asthma, our elders struggle with respiratory illness, and too many lives are cut short,” Lynwood City Councilmember Juan Muñoz-Guevara told the board today. “Gas appliances in our home are one of the largest sources of smog-forming pollution in the region. We cannot meet clean air goals without tackling this.”

Luz Perez, a Fontana resident who attended the hearing holding her young daughter at her hip, said she supports the rules and hopes it will mean cleaner air for her family.

“I had air monitors installed in our mobile home and I was surprised to see how polluted the inside air was,” she told the board. “It took me a while to recognize it was because of the gas stove and that made me really nervous. I figured it was important for me to come talk about it because we need to be able to transition to safer air.”

Despite decades of efforts to clean the air, the L.A. basin still has the worst air quality in the country and has consistently failed to meet federal health standards for smog and soot.

Gas companies, businesses, developers and other groups aggressively campaigned against the regulations, arguing that it would effectively mandate manufacturers to sell zero-emission appliances and increase costs for consumers. 

“Over time, the public will be forced to pay hundreds of dollars more to replace their gas appliances,” wrote Kevin Barker, a senior manager for SoCal Gas’s energy and environmental policy, in a letter to the district. “It is not in the public interest, especially at a time when consumers are demanding affordable energy solutions, to raise upfront costs of the most affordable options.” 

Environmental groups criticized the rules as failing to be aggressive enough. The air district’s original plan would have mandated manufacturers to sell all zero emission appliances in 2031. 

The Bay Area already has similar rules, enacted in 2023, that mandate zero-emission water heaters in 2027, furnaces in 2029 and large commercial water heaters in 2031. However, they are being amended to allow more flexibility for manufacturers to comply.  

This post was originally authored and published by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde from Cal Matters via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.