The Building Industry Association of Washington and Washington Hospitality Association came up with the idea, with support from the Republican Party and conservative initiative organization Let’s Go Washington. They say that a new law the Legislature passed last spring, along with recent guidance from the Washington State Building Code Council, combined to push for the gradual phasing out of natural-gas usage in Washington. They want to preemptively forbid any future natural-gas bans.
House Bill 1589 created a complicated roadmap of how Puget Sound Energy will provide energy to its 870,000 natural gas and 1.2 million electric customers in the future. “It’s one plan to rule them all,” says Matt Miller, a PSE lobbyist, paraphrasing The Lord of the Rings.
“It’s a planning bill,” says Rep. Beth Doglio, D-Olympia, the legislative sponsor. The measures in HB 1589 are needed to ensure gas and electricity prices remain stable as PSE deals with the future, Doglio and Miller agree.
HB 1589 does not affect any other utility in Washington, although PSE is the largest in the state, with more than 1.2 million customers. It does not require nor encourage PSE to phase out of providing natural gas, Miller and Doglio said. In fact, PSE is neutral on Initiative 2066 because it would not change the status quo. If a customer wants natural gas, PSE will provide it. “We have a legal obligation to serve all customers,” Miller said.
Richard Marouka cooks in the back of Samurai Noodle in the U District. Samurai, like many Asian restaurants, uses natural-gas stoves. (Grant Hindsley for Cascade PBS)
Meanwhile, the State Building Code Council updated its energy code in 2021 to comply with an updated national energy code. That state update did not forbid installation of gas appliances in new buildings, nor did it call for them to be removed in retrofits of older buildings. However, even when gas appliances are chosen, the new or updated buildings must still show the same energy savings as a building using electric heat pump, water or space heating.
In a written statement, the Council said the code changes won’t force anyone to phase out natural gas. Critics say otherwise.
They say Seattle, Shoreline and Bellingham have all installed or at least considered natural-gas bans. Spokespeople for Seattle and Shoreline say, however, their building codes align with state law and do not include gas-banning language. In 2022, the Bellingham City Council passed an ordinance that banned natural gas from being installed in new buildings and large apartment complexes. Seattle flirted with a ban in 2020.
Last January, the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit ruled that a Berkeley, Calif., ban on natural gas in new buildings was illegal. The Citizen Action Defense Fund, a conservative legal organization with informal ties to Let’s Go Washington, sent letters to the city governments of Seattle, Shoreline and Bellingham to inform them of this ruling.
Greg Lane of the Building Industry Association; executive vice president Anthony Anton of the Washington Hospitality Association; Hallie Balch of Let’s Go Washington; and state GOP party chairman Jim Walsh argue that Democrats and the state government secretly want to phase out the use of natural gas.
They noted that the unsuccessful 2023 version of HB 1589 contained language to phase out natural gas. That language was removed because the involved parties were not ready to take that step, Rep. Doglio said.
HB 1589’s critics point to one passage in the measure: “Large combination utilities shall file an integrated system plan [which] … achieve all cost-effective electrification of end uses currently served by natural gas identified through an assessment of alternatives to known and planned gas infrastructure projects, including non-pipeline alternatives, rebates and incentives, and geographically targeted electrification.”
Critics argue this passage means the state wants to phase out the use of natural gas. “It’s pretty clear where they want to go with the policy. It’s a bit disingenuous to say this is just a planning document,” Walsh said.
He noted HB 1589 calls for natural-gas facilities to depreciate in value down to zero by 2050.
Critics also point to Gov. Jay Inslee’s remarks when he signed HB 1589 on March 28: “This bill creates the roadmap and tools for the state’s largest utility to get out of the fossil fuel business by 2050.”
Inslee referred to a 2008 state law that sets carbon-reduction targets of 45% below 1990 levels by 2030, 70% by 2040 and 95% by 2050. Numerous laws and bills have been in play in recent years to reach those goals.
In fact, voters face another referendum. I-2117, also on the November ballot, would repeal Washington’s new cap-and-invest program, which was designed to trim carbon emissions by auctioning permits to pollute and has been blamed for increasing gas prices while also providing $2 billion for numerous state projects.
Passage of Initiative 2066 would make energy bills more expensive because utilities would have to keep old infrastructure operating after it becomes outdated, said Caitlin Krenn, Washington Conservation Action’s climate and clean energy director.
The initiative “is really about attacking standards for energy efficiency and affordability,” she added. Krenn described the initiative as a blunt instrument striking a complex law that took years to put together. “It’s taking a wrecking ball to policies that were carefully crafted,” she said.
On the political battlefield, Initiative 2066 is a sideshow to Initiative 2117, the carbon emissions measure.
Both sides are spending tens of thousands of dollars on the gas-ban initiative. Meanwhile, each side is spending millions of dollars fighting over the cap-and-invest measure.
Why would the Building Industry Association of Washington and the Washington Hospitality Association care whether natural gas is phased out?
Left: A bowl of ramen ready for serving at Samurai Noodle. Right: Ryo Izawa, owner of Samurai Noodle, worries about a ban on natural-gas stoves, which his restaurant uses to cook its three-day broths. (Grant Hindsley for Cascade PBS)
The BIAW’s Lane said natural gas makes construction less expensive. An all-electric house usually costs $20,000 more than a similar home with natural gas, and it takes $40,000 to $70,000 to convert a natural-gas home to all-electric. Lane said this is a huge extra burden to probable home buyers since only 26 percent of Washington residents can afford a mortgage in a state where home prices are skyrocketing, with a current state median price of $640,000.
Meanwhile, the Washington Hospitality Association represents hotels and restaurants, including mostly small businesses.
Replacing natural-gas boilers in hotels can cost a few hundred thousand dollars, with buildings higher than eight stories facing potential overhauls in excess of $1 million, said Association president Anthony Anton. If a huge building is converted to all-electric, Anton is concerned about the increased power needs and costs.
As an example, he mentions the heavy use of natural gas in restaurants. “A lot of cooking is done with natural gas, especially in ethnic restaurants. If you’re cooking for 200, you need that sustained gas. … I think the most impact will be in the Asian market,” Anton said.
Ryo Izama, owner of Samurai Noodles in Seattle’s University District, agrees.
His 18-year-old business cooks and serves Japanese-style tonkotsu ramen noodles, of which pork broth is a key ingredient. That broth requires 24 to 25 hours of superheating pork bone marrow across two or three days. That process needs sustained heat reaching 110,000 to 120,000 British Thermal Units, Izama said. A BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. Commercial electric stoves max out at 28,000 to 40,000 BTUs, he said.
“If we don’t get gas, we’re done. … The technology is not there yet to replace gas,” Izama said.
CORRECTIONS: Corrects the name of the Building Industry Association throughout.
