Ashland becomes the first city in Oregon to impose a fee on new natural gas hookups

A youth climate advocacy group in Ashland, Oregon, is celebrating their victory in pushing the city to enact a fee to discourage the installation of natural gas appliances in new homes.

The Ashland City Council took its final vote on Tuesday night on a new ordinance related to natural gas usage in the city.

Ashland High School senior Piper Banks is one of the members of the Rogue Climate Action Team, the youth group that first pushed for this ordinance. She said essentially, this will be a fee for new residential homes if they choose to install natural gas appliances, like ovens or hot water heaters.

“If you are choosing to build a new home and you are determined to have a gas appliance, you would have to pay a fee on that gas appliance,” Banks said. “It’s hoping to push Ashland to make sure we’re meeting our climate goals and addressing the climate crisis within Ashland.”

Banks and others have been working on this for so long that some of their members have graduated and gone off to college, being replaced by other youth.

The group was initially pushing for a blanket ban on natural gas installation in all new residential and commercial construction in the city.

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