SoCal businesses lose fight over gas-powered appliances

Southern California clean-heat rule survives key legal challenge

Southern California’s landmark rule to slash emissions from industrial heating sources just notched a major victory in court. The region has some of the worst air quality in the U.S., and the gas-fueled boilers and water heaters that serve its factories and large buildings are a key culprit. In 2024, air quality…

Court: Regulators can use smog standards to kill natural gas appliances

Just three years after ruling federal law blocks California governments from using building codes to ban natural gas appliances, a federal appeals court has ruled California agencies may be able to ban the appliances after all, only by using emissions…

SoCal businesses lose fight over gas-powered appliances

A person crosses a street as pollution fills the air in Los Angeles on Dec. 4, 2024. Photo by Andy Bao, AP Photo Southern California air regulators can move forward with new limits on the sale of certain gas-powered appliances, including water heaters. Despite pushback from businesses and developers, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling last week upheld restrictions on commercial and industrial gas appliances in four Los Angeles-are…

Court Upholds AQMD Zero-Emission NOx Rule

On July 2, a federal appeals court upheld a rule by the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s setting a zero-emission Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) standard for water heaters and industrial boilers used in large facilities and manufacturing facilities. The rule will eventually get more than 1 million pieces of equipment to zero-emissions and reduce […] The post Court Upholds AQMD Zero-Emission NOx Rule appeared first on .

Ninth Circuit Upholds South Coast Zero-NOx Emission Standard for Appliances

Last fall I wrote about a strangely important case about boilers, in which the Ninth Circuit would decide whether a challenged zero-NOx air emission standard adopted by LA’s air regulator was lawful.  The case is important because it had the potential to significantly constrain the ability of air pollution regulators to do their jobs and implement the Clean Air Act using traditional air pollution control tools.  Good news: The Ninth Circuit just…