(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Not satisfied with making lives more difficult and expensive by reportedly pushing to ban gas stoves, the Biden regime has turned its attention to also making Americans dirtier, smellier and even poorer.
Caving to a climate-alarmist base, President Joe Biden last month ordered his Energy Department to propose new efficiency standards for washing machines, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The new standards would force washers to use considerably less water, reducing machines’ cleaning capacities, in an effort to “confront the global climate crisis.”
Despite feedback from appliance manufacturers warning that the proposed changes would simultaneously lead to higher costs for consumers and also leave their clothes dirtier, Biden’s Energy Department defended their boss’s latest cave to the Left.
Regime climate commissars conceded that “maintaining acceptable cleaning performance can be more difficult as energy and water levels are reduced,” but insisted that appliance manufacturers like Whirlpool could comply with the malodorous regulations without impacting cleaning efficiency or skyrocketing costs.
Industry analysts weren’t buying the attempted spin.
“When you’re squeezing all you can out of the efficiency in terms of electricity use and water … you by definition either make the appliance worse or slower,” said the Heritage Foundation’s Travis Fisher, who serves as a senior research fellow at the foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and Environment.
“Why are we so focused on the energy output, as opposed to if it’s helping me wash my clothes? That standard has kind of gone off the rails.”
The manufacturing cost to implement the proposed standards could climb upwards of a staggering $700 million, an expense that would ultimately be passed to consumers. And the regulations “would have a disproportionate, negative impact on low-income households” by eliminating cheaper appliances from the market, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
Energy Department officials argued that the proposed washing machine standards could save some consumers money over time through alleged lower energy bills, but even they had to admit that about a quarter of users “would experience a net cost” thanks to the efficiency rule, the Free Beacon reported.
“Didn’t they learn anything from the gas stove ban?” quipped Fox News host Sean Hannity, referring to Biden’s proposed regulations for the popular kitchen appliance.
“I can tell you what is exactly going to happen here, OK?” Fox Business’ The Big Money Show co-host Brian Brenberg said of the proposed green regulations. “You’re going to just wash your clothes twice, which means you’re going to use more water than you do right now and more soap than you do right now.”
Co-host Taylor Riggs said the proposed standards wouldn’t make a dent in any promised climate salvation.
“China and India are the world’s largest polluters, go after them,” Riggs said. “The U.N. climate report says anything we do is worth nothing if we don’t get them on board. Stop coming after small things like washing machines.”
