First US city to ban new gas stations?

California’s Petaluma City Council has moved to ban new gas stations, and existing stations won’t be allowed to add new gas pumps although they can add electric chargers.

The council must approve the ban during a second reading to make it official, Electrek reports, clarifying that existing gas stations aren’t being shut down in Petaluma – just no new ones will be built.

It says there are 16 service stations, or one within a five-minute drive of every residential area in the city which is just north of San Francisco.

The council aims to accelerate EV adoption among its nearly 60,000 residents and will also be encouraging more public EV charging infrastructure.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced last year sales of new fossil-fuel powered vehicles would be banned starting in 2035, Petaluma City planning to be carbon neutral five years earlier.