Fact check: Biden admin backs Berkeley stove ban after repeatedly denying any support

This week, the Biden administration threw its support behind Berkeley, California's, attempt to outlaw gas stoves despite claiming numerous times it doesn't agree with or advocate for such policies.

In a joint court filing Monday, the President's Energy and Justice Departments argued in the affirmative for the City's decision that effectively ends usage of gas stoves in new buildings by banning natural gas hookups from construction. The agencies called on federal judges to reverse the policy's strike down issued in April by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Biden officials wrote that the ruling against Berkeley "cast a cloud of uncertainty over any health or safety law that may indirectly affect someone’s ability to use a product for which the federal government has issued an energy conservation standard."

They concluded their brief by demanding a "rehearing" on the decision to "correct" the panel opinion that "destabilizes the long-settled understanding shared by the Department, the States, municipalities, and the courts over the allocation of regulatory authority in this area...and throws a wrench into the federal government’s administration of the Act."

Despite Biden's publicly-known and still ongoing crusade against gas stoves, the White House has — on several occasions — denied it. When the gas stove controversy first heated up in January, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters "the president does not support banning gas stoves." 

DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm also denied the agency's push for "any" kind of gas stoves being banned.

“I will say that the Department of Energy is not banning any gas stoves" and is only "doing our duty to make sure that appliances are more energy efficient... Nobody’s taking my gas stove. Nobody will take your gas stove," she stated to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March.

Prior to those comments, Granholm said in April that certain gas stoves "would be impacted" by DOE measures.

Follow Addison on Twitter.