Gas Stove Ban Overturned by Ninth Circuit Court

In 2019, Berkeley, California was the first city to prohibit natural gas connections in new buildings. Since then, San Jose, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and other cities followed.
The California Restaurant Association challenged the Berkeley ban in federal court. A lower court ruled against them, but then the Ninth Circuit panel overruled the lower court.
There is something called the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) that prohibits states and localities from regulating “energy efficiency, energy use, or water use” once a standard becomes effective. This law covers gas appliances. Berkeley argued the law only applied to the design and manufacturing of appliance, not the distribution of natural gas and the Biden administration agreed. The Ninth Circuit stated energy use is the amount of natural gas consumed by the consumer at point of use, or at the gas stove, and that Berkeley’s ban impacts the amount of natural gas used.
The takeaway is that cities can’t avoid the laws passed by congress by doing nuanced things Congress doesn’t expressively say that can’t do. The Berkeley natural gas ban was an attempt to advance the anti-fossil fuel agenda through a legal back door because Congress won’t ban natural gas stoves.
Works Cited:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/berkeley-gas-stoves-ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-patrick-bumatay-645478c8?mod=hp_opin_pos_1