Justice Department Announces Actions Advancing Two Challenges to State and Local Natural Gas Bans in Colorado and Illinois

The Justice Department's Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) last week received a favorable decision regarding its statement of interest filing in a Colorado case. ENRD also filed an amicus brief opposing a natural gas ban by a Chicago-area municipality.

At issue in both cases is the ability of American families and businesses to continue relying on federally regulated gas stoves, furnaces, water heaters, dryers, and other appliances. In recent years, a growing patchwork of state and local regulations concerning the energy use and efficiency of appliances threatens to undermine those national standards.

"These efforts to support consumer choice and cut energy costs deliver on the President's commitment to unleash American energy and protect consumer choice," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD. "The Department of Justice will continue prioritizing the fight against radical state and local overreach."

Colorado Statement of Interest

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado last week allowed to advance a challenge to certain Colorado and Denver regulations, holding as plausible that the measures are preempted by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). Earlier last month, ENRD filed a statement of interest in the case which expressed support for the challenge against the Colorado and Denver provisions. The court agreed with ENRD's argument that if municipalities try to set building-wide energy use targets - which are largely a result of how much energy appliances in the building use - such efforts have an "impermissible connection with" the energy use and efficiency of appliances that federal standards already regulate.

Seventh Circuit Amicus Brief

ENRD filed an amicus brief last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit advancing arguments against a natural gas ban by the Village of Oak Park, Illinois. Plaintiffs challenged Oak Park's "Climate Ready Oak Park" as being preempted by the EPCA. The brief by ENRD argues that "EPCA's broad preemption provision bars local measures, like Oak Park's, that prohibit products subject to a federal energy conservation standard from using a type of energy or that impose specific requirements concerning appliances' energy use or efficiency."

These developments reflect the latest action from ENRD and the Justice Department fighting back against state and local gas bans. Earlier this year, the department sued a New Jersey Township and successfully sued two California cities, for similar natural gas bans.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Charles Roberts of ENRD handled both filings.