An AI software company sent at least 85 public comments opposing a Bay Area plan to phase out gas water heaters, and some of the people whose names appeared on the letters say they never approved them, according to Yahoo News.
The letters looked like grassroots opposition from concerned residents. One form letter circulated through the campaign read: "I'm a real person struggling with the price of utilities and gas. This was not written with AI. I write with an urgent request: get a hold of rising bills and surprise fees for families by requiring transparency before new rules take effect — starting with Rule 9-6, the new water heater regulation now in front of the board."
The San Francisco Chronicle reported in March that it had reached people listed on forms submitted through the software campaign, and 10 of them said they had not authorized the emails sent in their names. The Bay Area Council, which backed the campaign, has disputed that AI was used to send the forms.
The dispute centers on a Bay Area Air District proposal to shift households from gas water heaters to electric heat pumps. DeSmog reported that the campaign against the rule was backed by the Bay Area Council, which received about $150,000 from Chevron in the second quarter of 2026 while pushing for more stringent socioeconomic review of upcoming rules before the air board.
The council also launched a Common Sense Coalition website in November 2025 warning that the Bay Area's cost of living was already unbearable, and the site hosted the form letter in question.
Why the vote matters beyond the Bay Area
If approved, the standards would gradually replace gas water heaters with electric models in 2.8 million Bay Area households. DeSmog reported the decision could help shape similar efforts elsewhere, including in Maryland, where comparable regulations are coming together.
The Bay Area Air District has estimated the transition could cut regional utility bills by nearly $10 million a year, eliminate 3,236 tons of nitrogen oxide pollution annually, and prevent 37 to 85 premature deaths each year.
Chevron runs a refinery in Richmond and is subject to regulation by the same air district; it is also the state's largest oil-and-gas producer. DeSmog reported that Chevron settled 678 violations at its Richmond refinery for $20 million in 2024, and that the district later imposed a separate $900,000 penalty in December 2025 over inadequate emissions monitoring.
Tony Sirna, identified by DeSmog as deputy policy director for buildings at Evergreen Action, said the council's push for more socioeconomic studies could make future clean-air rules "onerous and therefore harder for the air district to instate."
What happens next
Air district staff issued recommendations on July 8 to delay the rule by a year, moving the proposed start date from January 2027 to January 2028, according to DeSmog. A final vote is expected in November 2026.
In September, the air board approved a policy intended to standardize how such rules are evaluated, setting "standards and metrics to ensure consistency for analyses conducted beyond the minimum statutory requirements and documents standards of transparency."
Separately, the California Air Resources Board is developing statewide water-heater standards that would phase in zero-emission limits starting in 2030, a timeline that keeps the underlying policy question open even if the Bay Area vote resolves the immediate dispute.
For writers and publishers watching how AI tools are used to simulate public opinion or authorship, the case offers a concrete data point: named individuals disputing that they ever produced or approved text circulated under their identity, and a regulator now writing rules meant to catch it before a final vote in November.
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