The Ashland City Council agreed on Tuesday to start writing a new ordinance that would ban the use of fossil fuels, like natural gas, in new home construction. That means appliances for heating or cooking would have to be all-electric.
The youth-led Rogue Climate Action Team has been pressuring the council to do this since March.
But as a result of a recent court ruling striking down one electrification ordinance, Bryan Sohl, chairman of the city’s Climate and Environment Policy Advisory Committee, said the Rogue Climate Action Team adjusted its earlier demands.
“The initial proposal by the students was a ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure in new residential, commercial and industrial,” he said. “And they’ve stepped back from that to ask at this time for a ban only on new residential.”
That court ruling came from a U.S. District Court case involving Berkley, California, which was the first local ordinance in the country to require all-electric construction.
And in Eugene, the only city in Oregon to pass such a ban, a group funded by natural gas company Northwest Natural was able to force the ordinance to a city-wide vote, expected later this year.
Despite the sudden local interest in this issue, Council Member Gina DuQuenne said the practice of building all-electric homes isn’t new to Ashland.
“Jackson County Housing Authority has done this. They did it at Snowberry, where rents are from $650 to $850,” DuQuenne said. “This is affordable, it’s doable.”
While the city has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, natural gas consumption has increased by ten percent from 2015 to 2020.
Ashland city council members urged staff to move quickly on this new ordinance. It’s expected the council could vote on a final version of the ordinance in August or September.
