(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Advocates continue to spar over a proposed ordinance to ban gas stoves and heating systems in most new construction in Chicago.
The Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance would set new indoor emissions standards that effectively would rule out using natural gas.
Sarah Moskowitz, director of the Citizens Utility Board, insists it's not as drastic as critics portray it. She says it's not mandating retrofits or asking people to give up their existing gas stoves.
But 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas and allies worry the measure is premature. A federal court in California ruled that a similar measure in Berkeley should be thrown out because such emissions standards are federal matters.
Villegas said a study showed that gas heat was three times more affordable than electric heat.
Moskowitz counters that is based on old technology. She said the California case Villegas cites is about different circumstances.
The natural gas ban is the topic explored on this weekend’s “At Issue,” which airs at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
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