Plaintiffs Alleged that Federal Law Preempted Maryland County’s Building Energy Performance Standards

A lawsuit filed in the federal district court for the District of Maryland asserted that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) preempted Montgomery County’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS). The plaintiffs included the manager of a high-rise condominium in Chevy Chase, a residential cooperative housing corporation that owns and operates 1,071 residential apartment units and certain commercial spaces in Bethesda, Maryland Building Industry Association, Inc., National Association of Home Builders of the United States, Restaurant Law Center (“an independent public policy organization supporting the restaurant and food-service industry”), and Washington Gas Light Company (a gas utility). The plaintiffs alleged that the BEPS “fall within the heartland of EPCA’s express preemption provision because they regulate and restrict the energy use and efficiency of” many gas appliances “by restricting the amount of energy used by covered buildings.