“Ban on Bans” misleading

In response to: “Banning the ban: Spokane citizen’s initiative looks to protect natural gas indefinitely” (July 4)

The comments from members of the Home Builders Association regarding the proposed ban on gas lines in new buildings contains several falsehoods that I believe are worth noting, as voters will be want to be well-informed about the issue before this proposal reaches their ballots.

To start, the name of the proposal itself is misleading. The “Cleaner Energy Protection Act” seeks to protect natural gas - an energy source which is cleaner than today’s electrical grid, but will not be in 2030 when the state has required our electric grid to be carbon neutral (and probably long before then). Until that time, residents who use gas stoves increase their children’s asthma risk, and gas lines have significant upstream health effects through the release of methane.

Also, this decision was not made “by seven folks sitting in a room not getting a whole lot of input.” The Sustainability Action Plan was made over the course of a year-plus, with the input of many sectors, including Avista and residents currently paying for power. Though they may not agree with every point of the plan, certainly there was a fair amount of input gathered in the 82-page proposal.

In fact, the plan is still in draft form, awaiting your input for how it can be made better, without the need for misleading and overreactive proposals. Submit comments on the city’s website, after you’ve had a chance to read the plan for yourself.

Emily Grant

Spokane