Ever heard the slogan “Now we’re cooking with gas”? It’s part of a decades-long advertising effort by the gas industry to make their product seem safe and appealing, even though the industry has known about the health threat of their product for more than a century.

These days, the industry is paying Big Tobacco’s scientists and social media influencers to undermine the science showing gas stoves are dangerous. It’s also seeding front groups across the country to fight against climate action and ensure profit keeps flowing to its executives and shareholders at the expense of our future.

For years, the gas industry has touted their product as a “bridge fuel” to a renewable future, with their gas replacing coal. But renewable energy like wind and solar is more affordable, cleaner and safer than methane gas. Fossil fuels caused the climate crisis — burning more of them isn’t going to solve it.

The methane gas industry likes to call itself  “clean” compared to coal but that’s like the tobacco industry saying it’s safe to smoke low-tar cigarettes or vape. The only clean, safe future is in a world free of fossil fuels.

The gas industry spent a whopping $124 million on political lobbying in 2022. Their lobbyists are trying to undermine rules to hold them accountable for their methane pollution and repeal the Biden Administration’s efforts to help people save money by switching to cleaner, safer electric appliances in their homes.

Much of the industry’s misinformation is being coordinated by the American Gas Association, which gas utilities fund with money from their customers’ monthly bills. That means that your money is being used to promote fossil fuels. Federal regulators are considering clamping down on this unfair practice.

When gas failures caused widespread blackouts during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, killing hundreds of Texans, gas-funded politicians in Texas blanketed the media to falsely blame the outages on clean energy.

The science is clear: to avoid the worst climate outcomes, we need to replace fossil fuels with clean electricity as fast as possible. But that transition is a threat to the gas industry’s business model. So they’re spending millions to promote fake solutions like “renewable natural gas” and hydrogen.