By Melissa Yu
On November 2nd at midnight, the Richmond City Council unanimously voted to eliminate dangerous sources of climate emissions and indoor air pollutants by banning gas hookups from all new building construction citywide!
With last week’s vote, Richmond became the first refinery community in the U.S. to completely ban gas hookups from new developments. We thank Councilmember Eduardo Martinez for introducing and championing this all-electric ordinance — an important step towards improving the quality of life for every Richmond resident and reducing polluting emissions that poison our communities.
As Councilmember Martinez said, "This is an example of how local governments can make a change and hopefully — by having lots and lots of local governments make a change — we can show the world what is possible by people acting together."
Watch the celebration recorded live from Richmond, CA on our Facebook page.
And a huge thank you to our Sierra Club members and supporters who sent messages to the City Council in support of this crucial legislation and took action to speed up the clean energy transition, reduce local pollution, and empower our local community and economy.
Burning of gas, propane, and wood in buildings produces harmful indoor air pollution that increases risk of respiratory disease and exacerbates existing respiratory conditions. Natural gas also poses risks to the community through post-earthquake fire ignitions and common pipeline leaks — more than 2.3% of gas leaks from extraction to the gas meter nationwide. Since methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, even 3% leakage doubles the climate impact from natural gas combustion over a 20-year horizon.
Building electrification can eliminate these hazards and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70%. All-electric buildings typically cost less to build and operate as well, with new single-family homes saving $1,500 to $6,000 in construction costs, and $4,000-10,000 on utility bills over 20 years. Cleaning up environmental pollution and converting our energy systems can also create massive job opportunities that will bring family-wage jobs to thousands of people in Richmond. You can learn more about the benefits of building electrification here.