A federal appeals panel appeared inclined Tuesday to let Washington, D.C.’s restrictions on natural gas in certain new buildings stand.
The case turns on the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, or EPCA, which gives the Department of Energy authority to set efficiency and energy-use standards for appliances including furnaces, water heaters, dryers and stoves. Industry groups argue that D.C. cannot accomplish through a building code what federal law prevents it from doing directly to an appliance.
The challengers include the National Association of Home Builders, Restaurant Law Center, National Apartment Association, Maryland Building Industry Association, Washington Gas and two labor unions.
D.C.’s Clean Buildings Act requires certain newly constructed or substantially improved buildings to operate at zero energy beginning in 2027. The building standards effectively prohibit natural-gas appliances in covered properties.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes upheld the law in March. Her ruling found that EPCA regulates how much energy covered appliances consume, not whether a local government permits those appliances to be installed in a particular building.
Bloomberg Law reported Tuesday that the D.C. Circuit panel appeared similarly unconvinced by the industry groups’ preemption argument during oral arguments.
Federal appeals courts are already split on essentially the same question.
The Ninth Circuit struck down Berkeley, California’s natural-gas piping ban in 2024, finding that a city could not evade EPCA by eliminating the fuel supply needed to operate federally regulated appliances. That ruling covers nine Western states.
The Second Circuit went the other direction in June. It upheld New York City and New York State restrictions on fossil-fuel appliances, finding that EPCA preempts appliance energy-conservation standards but does not prevent governments from prohibiting certain appliances altogether.
Washington’s case gives the D.C. Circuit the same statutory language and two competing appellate interpretations.
For builders, restaurants and gas utilities, the result determines whether D.C.’s 2027 requirements stand. For the natural gas industry, another ruling against preemption would leave Berkeley increasingly isolated—and gas appliance rules dependent on which federal circuit a building happens to sit in.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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