Industry Charges Judge ‘Rewrote’ EPCA To Back Berkeley’s Natural Gas Ban

A restaurant industry group is charging that a federal judge essentially “rewrote” the Energy Policy & Conservation Act (EPCA) to find that it does not preempt the California city of Berkeley’s precedent-setting ordinance banning natural gas hookups at new residential and commercial developments. “If Congress had meant to limit [EPCA] preemption to ‘direct’ or ‘facial’ regulations of covered products’ energy use, it would have simply prohibited regulation of appliances’ energy use,” states a Nov. 3 opening brief filed by the...