Another lunatic leftwing California ecowarrior directive bites the dust.
A federal appeals court on Monday overturned a California city’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings, saying it violates federal law.
The three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal sided with a coalition of California restaurants, who argued that the City of Berkeley’s ordinance essentially bans gas appliances in violation of a 1975 directive that gives Congress control over restrictions on appliances. The unanimous ruling is a major blow to California Democrats’ green energy push, and could clear the way for legal challenges to similar bans around the country.
Democrats have increasingly moved to ban gas stoves while attempting to downplay their efforts. New York is poised to become the first state to ban gas stoves, and California is working towards a statewide ban of its own. The White House has denied that President Joe Biden supports banning gas stoves while the Energy Department works to restrict their sale. Blue state attorneys general and environmental groups lined up to support the ban in court, in a sign of the case’s national implications.
The California Restaurant Association claimed Berkeley’s ban violated the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act , which gives the federal government final say over restrictions on energy appliances.
Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote that even though Berkeley lawmakers didn’t specifically ban the use of natural gas appliances, they reached the same result “circuitously” by changing their building code to ban gas piping—a policy that renders “the gas appliances useless,” he said.
This preemption would apply to state policies as well, he added.
“States and localities can’t skirt [federal preemption] by doing indirectly what Congress says they can’t do directly,” he wrote.
There’s simply no end to the things ordinary people enjoy that radical environmentalists are willing to ban. Fortunately, there’s still some semblance of the rule of law to at least temporarily keep them in check…
Tags: 9th Circuit Court, California, Democrats, environmentalism, natural gas, Regulation, Social Justice Warriors
Oh, but our betters (liberals) know so much better than we poor ignorant wretches do about how to best live our lives. Just ask, they’ll tell you.
A couple of weeks ago one of the rich climate change activists was talking about how governments should just imminent domain to seize assets to build more wind and solar farms. I wondered how he’d like the government starting with his property and assets, since they would go much farther than mine.
“Daddies, what did we use to cook with before we had to use trash bonfires in the yard?”
“Oh there there theybie, we used to use natural gas, and what a wonderful thing it was too!”
“…even though … lawmakers didn’t specifically ban the use of (main thing), they reached the same result “circuitously” by changing (law) to ban (ancillary thing that enables main thing to function)—a policy that renders (main thing) “useless””
Gee, I seem to recall there’s some other thing that local and state lawmakers in the glorious bear flag people’s republic have repeatedly attempted to make useless by effectively banning required ancillary things…hmmm…it will come to me…rhymes with “buns”…
And there’s a current case before the 9th Circuit regarding those very ancillary thing bans…
Now have them deal with “equity utility prices”.