Opponents of a New York City ordinance barring new gas hookups say a recent Supreme Court ruling bolsters their argument that the city’s restrictions are preempted by federal law.
In a letter to a federal appeals court Friday, the Association of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York cited the Supreme Court’s 8-0 ruling in Chevron U.S.A. v. Plaquemines Parish. The ruling cleared the way for the oil major to transfer a legal dispute over Louisiana coastal erosion from a state courtroom to a federal one.
The trade association asserts that the decision supports its position that New York City’s Local Law 154 is barred by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The key parallel between the Louisiana and New York cases, it said, is how broadly a federal court should interpret specific statutory language.
For the gas hookup case, the question is centered on language in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act that bars state regulation “concerning” the energy or water use of a product. The trade association has argued that the law applies not just to direct state regulation of appliances but to ordinances like the one in New York City, which requires new and heavily remodeled buildings to use all electric heating and appliances.
