A court decision has perhaps hampered a strategy of the California decarbonization movement that has had the pool industry there on edge for the past couple years.
A number of cities had enacted or were preparing codes that would prohibit the running of natural-gas lines in homes. Makers of gas-fired pool and spa heaters, and those who sold them, worried how Californians would affordably heat their pools.
Last month, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s decision that said cities and counties could do that. In California Restaurant Association v. City of Berkeley, the plaintiff said a Berkeley, Calif. ordinance banning the installation of gas lines overstepped a federal law stating that only the U.S. Department of Energy can establish conservation standards for building appliances. Berkeley said its ordinance fell within the restrictions of the federal law, since it doesn’t ban appliances, but rather prohibits the installation of gas lines. The Appeals court said they are the same thing.
With this decision, the 74 similar codes and ordinances that have been established throughout the Golden State are now in jeopardy. While not outright overturned, cities and counties would have to prove that the Berkeley recent decision doesn’t apply to their own laws.
This is the highest court before the Supreme Court, which would be unlikely to hear this case if it’s appealed, said John Norwood, Director of Government Relations for the California Pool & Spa Association. “It’s a very positive decision,” Norwood said. “These codes are very premature. The technology hasn’t caught up, there are the potential costs … There needs to be a lot more work done to come up with a product that will make the consumer happy.”
