Where Denver mayoral candidates stand on banning single-family gas hookups

A natural gas flame burning on a stove.Photo byFocal Foto via Flickr

By Matt Whittaker / NewsBreak Denver

DENVER—As energy policy becomes increasingly politicized in the United States, building codes have become a battleground in communities like Denver, where voters today will decide between candidates who differ on expanding bans on natural gas appliances.

Denver is phasing out natural gas furnaces and water heaters in new commercial and multifamily construction but hasn’t created building codes requiring similar restrictions for new, single-family homes.  

Whether to push for such a ban expansion is the main difference in otherwise similar climate platforms of mayoral candidates Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough, who are facing each other in a runoff election. Polls close today at 7 p.m., but those already in line by that time can still vote.

Johnston supports a ban for all future construction, Denverite reports. “We’ve got to focus on electrifying our buildings,” Johnston said in a YouTube video. “That means large commercial buildings, small commercial buildings, residential buildings as well. Get us off of fossil fuels onto renewable energy.”

According to the Denverite article, Brough stops short calling for a full ban in light of potential legal challenges but otherwise supports retrofitting buildings for electric heating and cooking. She supported the oil and gas industry when she was CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, but she opposes hydrocarbon production near Denver International Airport.

The city estimates that emissions from natural gas burned to heat space and water in buildings and homes contributes 24% of Denver’s total greenhouse gas emissions and creates “a significant, chronic health risk for thousands of residents.” 

A recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that included input from Boulder-based Rocky Mountain Institute said cooking on indoor gas stoves increases the risk of childhood asthma.

Natural gas bans have become increasingly contentious nationwide, creating a battleground between the environmental and natural gas lobbies in local building codes. Progressive cities have passed such bans while Republican-controlled municipalities prevent them.

However, municipal bans on natural gas appliances face an uncertain legal future after a federal appeals court struck down such a ban in Berkeley, Calif., throwing nearly 100 similar ordinances nationwide into question.

In Colorado, state lawmakers last year killed a bill that would have prevented local governments from banning natural gas and propane in what opponents called a move to prop up the fossil fuel industry.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Dan Woog, introduced the measure to allow Coloradans to choose which energy source they want to use to keep energy costs down.