A divided federal appeals court has sided with Southern California air quality regulators, upholding a ban on the manufacture, sale, and installation of certain gas-burning appliances across four Los Angeles-area counties.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 ruling Thursday, rejecting arguments from appliance manufacturers and trade organizations who claimed the emissions control measure ran afoul of federal law.
The court’s majority found that nothing in the text or legislative history of the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act indicated that Congress meant to prevent states from taking reasonable steps to regulate appliance emissions.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted the zero-emissions rule in June 2024, targeting large water heaters, small boilers, and process heaters. The regulation was designed to combat the region’s severe smog problem and bring the area into compliance with ozone standards established under the federal Clean Air Act.
Compliance deadlines began going into effect on January 1. Officials expect the rule to cut emissions in the South Coast Air Basin — which covers large portions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties — by nearly 10%.
Among those challenging the rule were the National Association of Home Builders and several California-based groups representing manufacturing, lodging, and restaurant industries. Attorneys representing those parties did not respond to requests for comment.
Circuit Judge Lucy Koh, writing for the majority, stated that striking down the rule would effectively amount to an implied repeal of the Clean Air Act, and that opponents failed to demonstrate Congress clearly intended that outcome.
Judge Koh also noted that challengers could not show the rule was unconstitutional across the board, pointing out that process heaters fall outside the scope of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and that the U.S. Department of Energy has not issued federal standards covering them.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee filed a dissenting opinion, arguing the case was “strikingly similar” to a 2023 ruling in which the same appeals court found that federal law overrode a Berkeley, California ordinance that had banned natural gas infrastructure in new construction.
