Federal Appeals Panel Leans Toward Upholding D.C. Natural Gas Restrictions
Judges consider whether federal appliance efficiency statutes preempt municipal building codes limiting gas installations in new developments.
A federal appeals court panel appeared inclined during a Tuesday hearing to uphold Washington, D.C.’s restrictions on the use of natural gas in select new building construction projects.
The dispute centers on the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). Under the federal statute, the U.S. Department of Energy is granted the authority to mandate efficiency and energy consumption standards for a range of appliances, including cooking stoves, furnaces, clothes dryers, and water heaters.
Industry challengers, which include the National Association, contend that local governments cannot utilize municipal building codes to enforce restrictions that federal law bars them from applying directly to appliances. The petitioners argue that the district's construction rules effectively bypass federal preemption under the EPCA.
The hearing reflects ongoing legal deliberations over the boundaries between municipal building standards aimed at limiting fossil fuel infrastructure and federal oversight of appliance energy efficiency.
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