>> This is the tone-deafness that ruins all efforts to actually convince people to take climate change seriously. It's extremely harmful.
> They're not asking for agents in jackboots to start seizing gas furnaces tomorrow. They're playing a necessary role in getting a slow-moving regulator to start moving forward on a plan that will take a decade to gradually roll out and that will incentivize further competition and innovation in alternative solutions over the course of five years or a decade or whatever.
That's an unhelpful strawman, and it seems like the regulation would be a lot more aggressive than you describe, according to the article:
> The petition’s reading would force the EPA to set NOx standards that would effectively ban the use of natural gas in all new construction within a year after the regulation is implemented.
IMHO, current-day politics mean that any regulation like this will likely be rammed through quickly when one party has control, because a slow rollout will invite repeal by the other party.
> a plan that will ... incentivize further competition and innovation in alternative solutions over the course of five years or a decade or whatever.
Don't be fooled. If the past is any guide, the "innovation in alternative solutions" will still likely still be worse than what we have now (e.g. efficiency guidelines mean my dishwasher now either leaves my dishes either wet or dry-ish and soapy-tasting, because the dryer was crippled, forcing the use of a "rinse agent."