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EXCLUSIVE: A new congressional resolution introduced by the Republican Party could block the president Biden’s recent ban in natural gas water heaters, Fox News Digital has learned.
In the last days of the biden administrationThe Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new rule that will ban non-condensing natural gas-fired water heaters by 2029 in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. However, Republicans in Congress are trying to intervene.
On Wednesday, Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Alabama, introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to overturn rules enacted by federal agencies, to circumvent the administration’s crackdown on home appliances, first shared with Fox News Digital .
“It’s a sweeping ban on water heaters. Another example of government overreach under the Biden administration on their way out. They don’t care about consumers at all,” Palmer told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
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Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Alabama, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (Tom Williams)
Proponents of Biden’s regulation, such as the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP), suggest it will eliminate 32 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from water heaters sold over 30 years.
But Palmer said it will have serious economic implications for American workers, given the amount a household would have to pay out of pocket for a new water heater that complies with the rule.
The Alabama congressman expressed confidence that the CRA will pass the House, as several other Republican lawmakers have signed on as sponsors.
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., one of the CRA’s co-sponsors, told Fox that “Joe Biden’s latest effort to ban gas water heaters in his final days in office is nothing less than another scam green energy”.
President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on January 10. (AP/Ben Curtis)
“This latest attack on American consumers is not about saving the planet; it is about control, higher costs, and imposing a radical, unsustainable agenda on every home,” Burlison said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “It is time for us to stand against this tyranny of regulations and protect the freedoms and choices of the American people.”
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Other Republican cosponsors include Reps. Julia Letlow of Louisiana, Mike Collins of Georgia, Randy Weber of Texas, Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma, Barry Moore of Alabama, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Claudia Tenney of New York, Russ Fulcher of Idaho, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, Jeff Hurd of Colorado and Jim Baird of Indiana.
The National Propane Gas Association also supports repealing the ban, telling Fox that it “threatens to eliminate the market for non-condensing instantaneous gas water heaters.”
Ángel Gómez (left) and Franes Méndez, technicians with the John G. Webster heating, cooling and plumbing company, remove a gas water heater from a home in Washington, DC, on August 28, 2024. (Bastién Inzaurralde)
“This rule would force families to replace their existing equipment with costly and unnecessary retrofits, imposing an undue financial burden for a marginal level of energy savings and questionable economic benefits,” said Steve Kaminski, president and CEO of the National Association of Propane Gas, to Fox News Digital. .
Biden has introduced regulations on several different appliances during his tenure, such as washing machines, gas stoves and ceiling fans.
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But the Republican-controlled Congress is said to be “very aggressive in rolling back” some of the regulations that arose from Biden’s decision. climate agenda, Palmer said.
