Rivera v. Washington State Building Code Council

On August 3, 2023, a coalition of plaintiffs that included homeowners, builders, suppliers, and utilities voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit challenging amendments to the Washington State Energy Code that banned or restricted the use of natural gas appliances in commercial and residential buildings. The plaintiffs said they were dismissing the case without prejudice in light of the defendants’ delay of the restrictions and initiation of a process to consider amendments in light of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/california-restaurant-association-v-city-of-berkeley/">California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley</a> that held that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act expressly preempted Berkeley’s ban on the installation of natural gas piping in newly constructed buildings. (Berkeley has filed a petition for rehearing en banc in that case.)

The court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Earthjustice, which represents climate and public health groups that intervened to defend the code amendments, <a href="https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/federal-court-denies-gas-industry-request-to-block-washington-states-climate-friendly-building-codes">said</a> the judge had stated that “Washington is committed to addressing climate change and the court will stay out of its way” and had found that the plaintiffs’ alleged harms were “purely speculative.”

On May 22, 2023, a coalition of plaintiffs that included homeowners, builders, suppliers, and utilities filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington challenging the Washington State Building Code Council’s amendments of the State Energy Code to ban or restrict the use of natural gas appliances in commercial and residential buildings. The plaintiffs contended that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempted the restrictions.