The city of Berkeley, Calif., is going to stop enforcing its ban on natural gas and soon repeal it, the California Restaurant Association (CRA) announced.
Berkeley will soon repeal its natural-gas ban to settle a lawsuit brought by the California Restaurant Association, and in the meantime the ban will no longer be enforced.
“We are encouraged that the City of Berkeley has agreed to take steps to repeal the ordinance, including immediate nonenforcement of the ban, to remain compliant with federal energy law. Every city and county in California that has passed a similar ordinance should follow their lead,” said CRA president and CEO Jot Condie in a press release.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Berkeley’s ban of natural-gas hook-ups in new buildings violated federal law.The panel decided that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act usurped local regulations preventing the use of natural gas for appliances.
“By completely prohibiting the installation of natural gas piping within newly constructed buildings, the City of Berkeley has waded into a domain preempted by Congress,” Judge Patrick Bumatay said in the court’s opinion. The court overturned a lower-court decision upholding Berkeley’s ordinance.
Berkeley filed a petition with support from the Biden administration for the court to reconsider the ruling. The effort failed in January when the Ninth Circuit denied Berkeley’s petition. The city will stop enforcing its natural-gas ban in compliance with the court ruling as the legislative process for repealing it begins.
“While the Ninth Circuit’s ruling renders this particular ordinance unenforceable, Berkeley will continue to be a leader in climate action,” Berkeley city attorney Farimah Faiz Brown told the Associated Press.
In 2019, Berkeley became the first U.S. city to ban natural-gas hook-ups in new buildings when the city council passed the measure unanimously. The law took effect in 2020, and cities across the state quickly replicated it. California cities retreated from their bans in the wake of the initial Ninth Circuit ruling, E&E News reported.
“This settlement has implications far beyond the City of Berkeley and is a significant step toward safeguarding energy choice for California consumers and helping our nation continue on a path to achieving our energy and environmental goals,” said American Gas Association CEO Karen Harbert in a statement. The AGA filed an amicus brief supporting the CRA’s lawsuit against the measure.
“Natural gas has been one of the primary drivers for achieving environmental progress, and any ban on this foundation fuel will saddle consumers with significant costs for little environmental gain,” Harbert added.
Last year, the Biden administration pushed similar measures to restrict the usage of natural-gas appliances, turning the gas stove into a national topic of conversation. The Department of Energy eventually walked back its proposed regulations and implemented less stringent rules for natural-gas appliances.
Environmentalists successfully pushed New York to pass a measure banning natural-gas appliances in new buildings and Chicago is now considering a nearly identical measure.