SAN FRANCISCO (AP) 鈥 The politically liberal enclave of Berkeley, California became the first U.S. city to adopt a ban on natural gas in new homes and buildings in 2019, which started a climate change-driven effort in dozens of other cities and counties that鈥檚 morphed into a heated debate about the future of gas stoves.
On Monday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco sided with the California Restaurant Association to , saying it violates federal law that gives the U.S. government the authority to set energy-efficiency standards for appliances.
The ruling has drawn criticism from Berkeley officials and environmentalists, although it's unclear what kind of impact the decision will have on climate advocates' fight to go electric, given its narrow scope and the possibility of an appeal to a broader panel of judges. Berkeley banned the installation of natural gas piping in new construction, which the judges said turned the energy use of an appliance to a quantity of zero.
Berkeley City Councilmember Kate Harrison, who authored the 2019 ordinance, said she doesn鈥檛 know how the city council will respond, but noted that a ban on natural gas or effort to curtail the use of natural gas has spread to 70 communities in California, and even to Seattle and .
鈥淭his is a movement that can鈥檛 be stopped,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e conflated a 1970s regulation about the efficiency of appliances with what kind of materials can come into our house. We did not change appliances, we changed the source of fuel that can come into new buildings.鈥
Gas stoves are in the spotlight in America鈥檚 culture wars, as more Democrat-controlled cities move to limit their use, citing indoor pollution concerns and climate policies that aim to phase out fossil fuels in favor of carbon-free electricity.
In January, comments from the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission that 鈥渁ny option is on the table鈥 to regulate gas stoves sparked outrage from conservatives who said it amounted to government intrusion in people鈥檚 homes. The White House has said that President Joe Biden doesn鈥檛 support a ban on gas stoves.
The ruling in Berkeley Monday does not affect the majority of cities and counties that have already banned or curtailed natural gas through building codes that meet certain federal requirements and are allowed by the decision, environmental groups said. Other municipal policies to regulate gas distribution and air emissions are not impacted either.
About two dozen cities may be at risk because they are constructed similar to Berkeley, according to the Building Decarbonization Coalition, a nonprofit aimed at eliminating fossil fuels. They include San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland.
But not all agreed the ruling negated their city's ordinance.
鈥淪an Francisco鈥檚 ordinance differs from Berkeley鈥檚 and remains in effect," said Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the office of City Attorney David Chiu.
Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote in the 3-0 Ninth Circuit ruling that a local ordinance that bans appliances such as gas stoves 鈥渋mpacts the quantity of energy鈥 they consume, which is under federal regulation. The ruling overturned the decision of a judge in a lower court in 2021, dismissing the case because city officials were not trying to regulate energy efficiency for appliances but only the fuel they used.
One likely next step is to seek a rehearing with a larger panel of 11 judges on the appellate court that might lean more liberal, said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston.
The three judges in Monday's 3-0 ruling were selected at random, and include Bumatay and Judge M. Miller Baker, who is visiting from the U.S. Court of International Trade. Both are appointees of former President Donald Trump, and the third, Judge Diarmuid O鈥橲cannlain, was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan.
The panel was 鈥渁 very strange trifecta, that鈥檚 just a matter of statistics,鈥 Blackman said.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals includes California, Washington state and seven other states in the western region, and helps set legal precedent on some of the country's biggest issues, including gun control and labor. Trump made gains in adding more conservative judges to the historically liberal court, although it still has more judges appointed by Democratic presidents.
Last year, the California Air Resources Board voted to ban sales of new gas furnaces and water heaters in 2030. Last month, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District adopted rules to phase out and eventually ban the sale of gas water heaters and furnaces.
Kristine Roselius, a spokesperson for the air quality management district, said attorneys are reviewing the ruling but it has regulated air pollution for decades and that its rule is different from that of Berkeley.
