On August 7, 2026, the federal district court for the District of Colorado dismissed with prejudice a challenge to standards passed by the Denver City Council in 2023 that restrict or ban use of certain natural gas appliances. As a threshold matter, the court found that the business groups that challenged the standards had standing. On the merits, however, the court rejected the groups’ argument that the standards were a regulation “concerning” a covered product’s “energy use” as defined by EPCA and were therefore preempted. The court agreed with the Second Circuit in <a href="https://www.climatecasechart.com/collections/association-of-contracting-plumbers-of-the-city-of-new-york-v-city-of-new-york_c0774d">Association of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York v. City of New York</a> that “energy use” in EPCA refers to “a standardized, fixed measure assigned to a product before it reaches consumers.” The district court found that Denver’s standards—“which only regulate appliances purchased by consumers and which do not impose requirements on manufacturers—do not regulate energy use as contemplated by the EPCA’s preemption provision.” The court further concluded that the EPCA preemption provision’s use of the word “concerning” did not extend the provision’s reach to the Denver standards.

Lawsuit challenging Denver electrification requirements for buildings.

Restaurant Law Center v. City & County of Denver

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Colorado Federal Court Rejected Preemption Challenge to Denver Building Electrification Law

Filed

United States of America

Colorado

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment to individuals or businesses, typically provided as a government cash payment or a specific tax reduction.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Replacing technologies that burn fossil fuels directly with alternatives powered by electricity.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector creates and distributes information and entertainment through television, radio, print, and digital platforms.

This sector involves the distribution, treatment, and conservation of water resources.

Colorado Federal Court Rejected Preemption Challenge to Denver Building Electrification Law

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance