Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Energy

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a 2022 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it repealed energy efficiency standards adopted in 2020 for dishwashers and laundry machines with shorter cycle times. As a threshold matter, the Fifth Circuit rejected the federal defendants’ argument that the states challenging the 2022 rule lacked standing. On the merits, the Fifth Circuit first found that it was unclear whether DOE had statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and laundry machines and that, even if it did, the agency “failed to adequately consider the negative consequences” of repealing the 2020 standards, including the substitution effects of energy-and-water-wasting rewashing, prewashing, and handwashing,” and also failed to adequately consider the “impact of the energy conservation program on ‘performance characteristics,’” such as cycle time. The Fifth Circuit also held that DOE’s belief that the 2020 standards were legally invalid was an insufficient basis for repealing the standards and that DOE should have considered alternatives to complete elimination of standards for short-cycle appliances.