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Dive Brief:
The United States Supreme Court on Monday sided with the Trump administration and gas sector interests by sending a case involving non-condensing commercial gas water heaters and residential gas furnaces back to a federal appeals court.
The action means that two energy-efficiency rules the U.S. Department of Energy finalized in 2023 and 2024 that would effectively eliminate non-condensing versions of the appliances from the market will remain in legal limbo until legal proceedings are completed.
In a brief to the Supreme Court, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said returning the case to the appeals court would open a window for DOE to rewrite the rules. “The Department has determined that the rules at issue are factually and legally flawed, and the agency is considering a new rulemaking in which it would correct those errors,” Sauer said. Vacating the ruling and remanding the case “would permit the court of appeals to take account of those developments and the Department’s revised position … by potentially holding this case in abeyance pending a new rulemaking.”
