Trump administration goes to court to halt city gas appliance bans

The Trump administration has filed suit against two California cities, Morgan Hill and Petaluma, to get them to rescind bans against gas appliances on new construction projects.

The federal government contends that the bans impose “crushing costs” and are unlawful. The two cities’ bans apply to both commercial and residential projects.

Several cities have gas appliance bans in place but some of them rescinded bans after Berkeley, Calif., which enacted the first U.S. gas appliance ban in 2019, lost a legal battle and agreed to revoke it. Cities that enacted bans that are not modeled on Berkeley’s law may be better positioned to retain their bans.

For example, a New York city emissions law that makes it difficult for new properties to install gas appliances and be compliant with the law has survived a court challenge.