West Valley cities want to ban gas appliances amid legal ruling

Leaders across the West Valley are pushing for a greener future in one of the country’s most polluted areas, but it could be more challenging after a controversial ruling on the use of gas.

Campbell and Los Gatos recently explored ways to limit nitrogen oxide emissions caused by gas. The Campbell City Council unanimously approved a policy over the summer. Los Gatos is following close behind after its Town Council voted 3-2 last month, with Mayor Mary Badame and Vice Mayor Matthew Hudes voting no, to draft a similar policy.

Campbell’s policy — which cites nitrogen oxide’s harmful effects on resident health, including impaired lung function, increased asthma attacks and heart damage — prohibits the installation of nitrogen oxide-emitting equipment such as water heaters, furnaces, ovens, stoves and dryers in new construction or substantial remodels. Cupertino chose to implement a policy that requires new buildings to meet rigorous energy efficiency standards by incentivizing all-electric builds, but left room for a mix of electricity and gas.

The region’s changes are a result of a 2023 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, which upheld a prior ruling the city couldn’t ban natural gas piping in new buildings. West Valley municipalities were then forced to rescind their 2022 codes because of their all-electric requirements to avoid lawsuits.

Now, the West Valley is trying a different approach — sidestepping legal action by focusing on air quality and allowing some gas power with electrification. Some say the tactic puts the region at the forefront of Santa Clara County’s climate efforts.

Campbell resident Ulka Agarwal, a psychiatrist who’s lived in the city for two years, said the changes are critical for her, especially since Campbell was one of the first cities countywide to implement the policy. Agarwal, who also serves on the Santa Clara County Medical Association’s Environmental Health Committee, said the policy is vital for people like her mom, a lung cancer survivor who, after going into remission, didn’t know cooking over a gas stove emitted harmful fumes.

“We are paving the road and making it easier for other cities,” Agarwal told San José Spotlight. “There have to be the pioneers out there and nothing’s ever going to be easy.”

The region’s efforts preempt changes in the electrical code statewide that will push for electrical power over gas. The changes will go into effect in 2026 to reduce pollution. The American Lung Association ranked the San Jose-Oakland-San Francisco area the fifth worst in annual particle pollution out of 204 metropolitan areas nationwide this year.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will only allow the sale of electric water heaters and non-gas furnaces in the Bay Area beginning in 2027 and 2029, respectively. This means homeowners with a gas stove, oven or furnace will have to retool their homes if they replace this equipment, which could be costly.

Los Gatos Councilmember Rob Rennie, who was an active Sierra Club member, said the California Restaurant Association threatened the town with legal action for its previous all-electric building code. He said the town’s potential policy acts as a stopgap before the state and regional transitions, maintaining consistent construction rules for developers rather than going back and forth. He added the court decision was a letdown.

“It’s kind of disappointing when we spent a lot of effort getting these codes in place and then all of a sudden somebody says we have to remove them,” Rennie told San José Spotlight.

All three West Valley municipalities have goals for a more sustainable future. Campbell is creating a climate action plan for the first time and Cupertino adopted its updated climate plan in 2022.
Zoe Elizabeth, deputy director of decarbonization programs and policy for clean electricity nonprofit Silicon Valley Clean Energy, said the state looks to local jurisdictions to see what climate policies work. The nonprofit helps cities further their climate goals.

“Cities take these actions because they want to reduce pollution in their communities in the most simple, sensible and economically efficient way,” she told San José Spotlight. “It just makes sense if you’re going to build new buildings (and) we’ve got the technology that exists, to put it in.”

Agarwal said it’s important for cities to remain undeterred in the face of the Berkeley ruling because climate change is too detrimental to ignore.

“There’s always going to be some barriers, especially when something’s a new idea,” she said. “But with climate change, we’re beyond personal preferences (such as gas stoves).”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.