A federal appeals court ruled that the City of Berkeley’s proposed natural gas ban would illegally circumvent federal law, siding with the California Restaurant Association that first brought the suit shortly after the ban was enacted in November of 2019.
The federal appeals court is the first to weigh in on bans against new natural gas hookups. San Francisco and San Jose are among other Bay Area cities that have enacted similar bans; Berkeley was the first.
According to the ruling, the Berkeley ordinance is not in line with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which “Expressly preempts State and local regulations concerning the energy use of many natural gas appliances, including those used in household and restaurant kitchens,” U.S. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote for the unanimous three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“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,” Bumatay also wrote.
Former California State Senator Melissa Melendez noted that the California Air Resources Board wants to ban natural gas across the state.