California Natural Gas Appliance Ban Blocked by Federal Ninth Circuit Court

California homeowners already are being forced to pay the highest electric and water rates in the nation due to costly government mandates — but things will only get worse under costly proposals by California Democrats to ban the use of all natural gas appliances in the state.  

Several local jurisdictions in California have already enacted these mandates, including Democrats in the City of Berkeley. The city’s law eliminates any natural gas hookups in all new construction — in favor of full electric outfits. Today, that law was struck down unanimously by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a first of its kind case.

The court found that the ordinance is not in line with the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which “expressly preempts State and local regulations concerning the energy use of many natural gas appliances,” and that “Instead of directly banning those appliances in new buildings, Berkeley took a more circuitous route to the same result and enacted a building code that prohibits natural gas piping into those buildings, rendering the gas appliances useless,” stated the opinion of the court.

Carl DeMaio, Chairman of Reform California and the leader of a statewide campaign opposing the ban on natural gas appliances, says that the decision is a win for Californians’ wallets and sets precedent.

“We are thrilled with the 9th Circuit Court decision because this decision not only will apply to these mandates on new construction, but will also block the costly home retrofits that a number of cities and counties have been implementing,” said DeMaio.

While the Berkeley law applies to new construction, DeMaio says Reform California is aware of and fighting mandates requiring retrofits of existing homes and buildings — such as one proposal in San Diego. DeMaio says the cost of these retrofit mandates would come to $26,000-$31,000 per homeowner — and that’s just on the low-end of the estimates.

DeMaio says the Ninth Circuit precedent will help stop these mandates in their tracks — but that they still have to keep up the pressure on local politicians to reject or reverse course on these proposals.

Join Carl DeMaio and Reform California’s campaign to stop the natural gas bans at StopTheGasBan.org