West Virginia leads 21 states in bid to block natural gas appliance rule

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WTAP) -West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey is leading a 21-state coalition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal rule that would effectively eliminate many natural gas appliances from the market.

The coalition challenged a D.C. Circuit Court decision that upheld Department of Energy efficiency standards requiring natural gas furnaces and commercial water heaters to meet performance thresholds that only condensing appliances can satisfy.

The states argue the Energy Policy and Conservation Act prohibits banning appliances with protected “performance characteristics.” The case, American Gas Association v. U.S. Department of Energy, is being heard by the Supreme Court.

“This decision from the D.C. Circuit will hurt working families in West Virginia, seniors on fixed income and those in our rural communities more than any other,” McCuskey said in a statement. “They will be forced to either pay for costly home renovations or give up natural gas altogether.”

More than 335,000 West Virginia households — nearly four in 10 — rely on natural gas for home heating, according to the coalition’s legal brief.

A large share of the state’s housing stock was built before 1978 and is incompatible with condensing appliances, the states argued, meaning many homeowners would face expensive structural renovations to replace aging furnaces or water heaters.

The coalition argues the D.C. Circuit failed to properly analyze the statute as required by federal law.

The brief references the Supreme Court’s recent Loper Light decision, saying the lower court’s outcome is exactly what the ruling was meant to prevent.

“When courts decline to ‘second-guess’ agency interpretations, they permit agencies to convert statutory ambiguity into sweeping regulatory power — power that falls hardest on the people least able to bear it,” the brief states.

The attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas joined the West Virginia-led brief.

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