WASHINGTON, D.C. – Incoming U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is pressing U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Commissioner Richard L. Trumka, Jr. to disclose data and information regarding the CPSC’s efforts to ban gas stoves.

In a letter to CPSC Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric, Sen. Cruz wrote:

“On January 9, 2023, Bloomberg published an article titled, ‘US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears,’ in which Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr. claimed that ‘[gas stoves are] a hidden hazard . . . . Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.’ A ban was presaged on October 25, 2022, when Commissioner Trumka sought to initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking at the CPSC to ban gas stoves in homes. In both the Bloomberg article and a memorandum authored by Commissioner Trumka, titled ‘NPR Proposing Ban on Gas Stoves (Indoor Air Quality),’ two studies were cited that attributed gas stoves to high levels of nitrous oxide as well as childhood asthma.”

As the Senator notes, there are reasons to believe these studies about the alleged hazards of gas stoves came from radical environmental activists seeking to ban the use of natural gas entirely.

“As the incoming ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I am concerned that a total or partial ban on gas stoves would constitute government overreach and generally conflict with the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in West Virginia v. EPA. Further, I have reason to believe that both of the aforementioned studies were authored or paid for by radical environmental activists seeking to gin up misleading, false studies to further their and the Biden administration’s agenda to ban the use of fossil fuels.”

Sen. Cruz requested that Chairman Hoehn-Saric and Commissioner Trumka answer multiple questions, including: whether the CPSC intends to go forward with its request for information (RFI) from the public on the alleged hazards associated with gas stoves; whether the RFI will rely on Commissioner Trumka’s October 25, 2022 memorandum titled “NPR Proposing Ban on Gas Stoves (Indoor Air Quality)”; and whether the CPSC has a process to vet third party research and studies relied upon by the agency to substantiate its regulatory actions.

Sen. Cruz also requested that the CPSC and Commissioner Trumka preserve and turn over a number of records related to their efforts to ban gas stoves, including relevant correspondence with the White House and radical environmental activist groups on the potential ban.

To read the full text of Sen. Cruz’s letter to CPSC Chairman Hoehn-Saric, click here, and the full text of his letter to CPSC Commissioner Trumka, click here.

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