In a win for energy policy, building performance standards (BPS) in New York and Denver were upheld in court this past March. The lawsuit against Energize Denver and the state-level BPS argued that in order to comply with the BPS, building owners would have to replace appliances with products that exceed federal appliance standards set by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975. A federal judge determined that owners had multiple compliance pathways, and dismissed the case.
Separately, a federal district judge upheld Local Law 154 (LL154), New York City’s law prohibiting most fossil fuels (including gas) in new construction. The judge concluded that LL154 is not preempted by EPCA. This ruling interprets EPCA differently than a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, which ruled in 2023 that the City of Berkeley’s banon gas in new construction is preempted by EPCA. The New York ruling follows the lead of 11 Ninth circuit judges who signed a forceful dissent to the Berkeley decision
