Regulatory Submissions

A number of different parties submitted briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) final efficiency standard for non-weatherized residential furnaces (the Furnace Rule). APGA is jointly challenging DOE’s final Furnace Rule with the American Gas Association, National Propane Gas Association, and others. Consolidated with this challenge are also challenges to DOE’s final commercial water heating equipment efficiency standard and the agency’s withdrawal of the “interpretive rule,” which would have ensured consumer access to certain appliance technology. Read more about the legal challenge here. On June 10, DOE submitted its respondent brief to the Court. Briefs from intervenors and amici supporting DOE’s final rule submitted their briefs on June 17. Intervenors included a number of cities and states (NYC, DC, MA, IL, ME, MD, MN, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA), environmental non-profits (Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council [NRDC]), the Consumer Federation of America, and the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants. The only amicus brief was submitted by the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University (NYU) School of Law. Generally, all briefs in support of DOE’s final furnace rule argued that the agency was justified in setting an efficiency standard for residential furnaces that would ban a common technology used in many homes across America.