A divided federal appeals court on July 2 delivered a 2-1 decision upholding a regional ban on the manufacture, sale and installation of selected gas-fired appliances across four Los Angeles-area counties. The panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges from appliance manufacturers and trade associations who argued the pollution-control measure conflicted with federal law.
The contested rule was adopted in June 2024 by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. It requires large water heaters, small boilers and process heaters to meet zero-emissions requirements as part of efforts to curb smog in the South Coast Air Basin and to comply with ozone standards under the federal Clean Air Act.
Compliance timelines for the rule began taking effect on January 1. The district projects the regulation will remove nearly 10% of emissions in the South Coast Air Basin, the region that encompasses large portions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Among the challengers were the National Association of Home Builders and several California manufacturing, lodging and restaurant groups. Their attorneys did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Circuit Judge Lucy Koh wrote for the 2-1 majority. In her opinion she said that neither the language nor the legislative history of the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act indicates Congress intended to prevent states or localities from employing reasonable measures to regulate appliance emissions. Koh added that voiding the district's rule would effectively amount to an implied repeal of the Clean Air Act, and that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated Congress clearly intended such a result.
Koh additionally found the challengers had not shown the rule was unconstitutional in all respects, noting that process heaters are not covered by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and that the U.S. Department of Energy has not promulgated federal standards for those units.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee filed a dissent. He said the dispute was "strikingly similar" to a 2023 appeals court decision in which the panel concluded federal law preempted a Berkeley, California ordinance that banned natural gas infrastructure in new buildings.
The court's ruling preserves the South Coast Air Quality Management District's zero-emissions standard for the specified appliances while leaving the dissenting view on federal preemption on record.
Context and implications
The decision maintains a locally tailored regulatory approach to appliance emissions in a region with acute smog challenges, and it frames the continuing legal debate over the scope of federal preemption where federal energy statutes and federal environmental standards intersect.