American Public Gas Association v. U.S. Department of Energy

On June 1, 2022, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to vacate a 2020 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) rule that set energy conservation standards for commercial packaged boilers that were more stringent than the standards of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The court had found in January 2022 that DOE did not provide the requisite justification for promulgating the more stringent standards and gave DOE 90 days to address why the rule satisfied the standard requiring “clear and convincing evidence” that the more stringent standards were economically justified. DOE issued an additional explanation in April 2022 (which noted that numerous factors such as reduced cumulative carbon dioxide emissions were considered in addition to consumer savings), but the petitioners argued that the 2020 rule should be vacated because the explanation was inadequate and was issued without notice or opportunity for comment. The D.C. Circuit denied the motion to vacate in a one-sentence order.