No city under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals—that is, in Western states like California and Washington— is supposed to ban natural gas. In April, the court rejected Berkeley, California’s law banning natural gas in new buildings including restaurants. But Seattle has passed a new law, anyway. (Berkeley is fighting the court’s…
Tag: Berkeley
Appellate Court Throws Out Berkeley Ban on Gas Hookups, But Activists See Workarounds
On April 17, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ban by Berkeley, California, on using natural gas in new construction. The court decided that the 1975 federal Energy and Conservation Act Law (EPCA) preempts local regulation of natural gas, Jonathan Adler in the Volokh Conspiracy said. Adler quoted the leading judge’s opinion: “By…