Southern California air-quality regulators rejected a plan to phase out some natural gas-powered furnaces and water heaters in a meeting on June 6.

A majority of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s 12-member board cited high costs for homeowners and lack of electrical infrastructure in the state as reasons they could not support the proposed plan.

It would have required manufacturers to pay fees for each natural gas water heater or furnace they sold above a specified amount in the district’s area of coverage, which includes parts of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties and all of Orange County.

“I, like everybody here, supports clean air,” said Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who opposed the regulations at the June 6 meeting. “But we must also pursue environmental progress without punishing the very people we serve today. ... I think this mandate hits really hard for disadvantaged and fixed-income residents.”

The proposed regulation changes would have applied to more than 10 million residential furnaces and water heaters in the region through natural replacement of the units by homeowners, developers, or landlords in the next 10 years.

The board rejected the proposals in a 7–5 vote after a five-hour meeting attended by hundreds of residents who mostly opposed them. 

District staff worked on changing two regulations targeting the gas appliances for the past two years, Executive Officer Wayne Nastri said during a presentation.

Staff received about 30,000 comment letters from the public, and 200 people commented during the meeting. They also met with public officials, gave multiple presentations to cities, and held public meetings before presenting the final proposal, he said.

The region fails to meet requirements under the federal Clean Air Act for nitrogen oxide emissions, which could result in U.S. sanctions.

The plan called for reducing the sale of gas-powered appliances and increasing sales of zero-emission electrical units in steps, ultimately reaching 90 percent electrical sales by 2036.

The proposed new regulations were expected to reduce smog-producing emissions by about 6.1 tons per day when fully implemented, according to Nastri.

“It’s important to understand these units emit or generate nitrogen oxide emissions into our ambient air, and that’s critical because this is a component of ground-level ozone,” Nastri told the board. “We are out of attainment for four ozone standards in our region. We are so much out of attainment it is called ‘extreme non-attainment.’”

An aircraft takes off from Los Angeles International Airport behind power lines in El Segundo, Calif., on Aug. 31, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Under one option in the proposed regulations, manufacturers would have paid $500 per gas-powered furnace and $250 per gas water heater for each unit sold over the district’s target. For instance, starting in 2027, the district set a target to allow manufacturers to sell only 60 percent gas-powered appliances. The seller would have to pay fees for every unit over that percentage sold during the year.

The program included some exceptions for manufacturers, Nastri said.

The board members—made up of elected officials in the district—who voted against the regulations included Nguyen, Highland Mayor Larry McCallon, San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman, city of Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, Paramount Vice Mayor Brenda Olmos, Riverside County Supervisor Manuel Perez, and Yorba Linda Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Rodriguez.

Lock Dawson, along with others who opposed, said the manufacturer fees would be passed on to residents, increasing their financial burdens.

“We have a homeless crisis in this state,” Lock Dawson said. “We don’t have enough houses. We don’t have enough residences. ... Californians are really struggling right now. My residents are really struggling. Poverty is a health issue too.”

Others were concerned about the state’s electrical grid, which has lagged behind its climate action goals. Energy shortages have caused some parts of the region to lose power during the summer months, Perez said.

“One thing I’m really concerned with is the issue of the grid, ultimately,” he said. “Can you imagine being in 100-degree weather, working in the fields, coming home, turning on the air and it turns on for maybe five minutes? Then it shuts off completely. That’s my reality.”

Bill Hussey, mayor of Grand Terrace, a city in San Bernardino County with about 12,000 residents, said he was similarly worried about overloading the grid.

He told the board that recently, residents of his city were “without power for eight days“ and that there were ”senior apartments without power.”

“We had to use city funds to heat and feed them,” Hussey told the board.

Several other surrounding city officials and local organizations also stated their opposition.

Construction workers are seen atop a new apartment building in Alhambra, east of downtown Los Angeles. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

John Gabbard, chair of the Orange County Council of Government and mayor pro tem of Dana Point, said, “The rules place enormous economic burden on the people, especially the seniors.”

Speaking in favor of the proposal, Linwood Councilman Juan Muñoz-Guevara told the board that the health of his community was being affected by gas appliances, which he said were one of the largest sources of smog in the region.

“I’ve seen firsthand how families in my community are forced to live with the health consequences of dirty air,” Muñoz-Guevara said. “Our children grow up with asthma, our elders struggle with respiratory illness, and too many lives are cut short.”

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman voted in favor, telling the board she was most concerned about air quality.

“We care about cleaning the air, and since my time on this board, there’s no rule that we have discussed that will have as much impact on the air people are breathing in this region than this rule that we are considering,” Raman said.

Board members also faced the threat of a lawsuit by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli sent a letter to the district June 5, vowing to sue regulators if the rules were passed.

“California regulators are on notice: If you pass illegal bans or penalties on gas appliances, we’ll see you in court,” Essayli, a former California assemblyman, posted on social media platform X. “The law is clear—feds set energy policy, not unelected climate bureaucrats.”

Essayli said in the letter that the U.S. government is committed to the removal of illegitimate impediments to the use of domestic energy resources, including natural gas.

According to Essayli, Congress has ensured that states and localities can’t prevent consumers from using products protected by federal law in their homes, kitchens, and businesses.

The board ended the discussion by voting to send the proposed regulations back to a committee to start over. The proposals aren’t expected to return for consideration until next year.