Two years ago, Bay Area pollution regulators passed the strictest rules in the country aimed at phasing out two types of air-fouling appliances — water heaters and furnaces that use natural gas. But now they are considering softening the rules.
The Bay Area Air District’s pioneering anti-smog rules, passed in 2023, require that retailers stop selling natural gas models in 2027 for water heaters and 2029 for furnaces. The regulations included a caveat that the district should re-evaluate its timeline to determine whether alternative appliances — mostly electric heat pumps — were growing in both affordability and availability.
The target pollutants are nitrogen oxides, also called NOx, produced by appliances that use natural gas and are key culprits generating unhealthy smog…