Business groups sue to block Denver’s restrictions on gas appliances

A drone photo of Denver in March 2020. (Courtesy of Guerilla Capturing)

An unlikely alliance of homebuilders, hoteliers, restaurateurs and energy companies hopes to end Denver’s crisis. natural gas ban furnaces and water heaters in new construction.

On July 3, seven business groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Denver, asking Judge Kathryn Starnella to declare the ban void and unenforceable. The groups claim the ban is void under federal law and causes “serious and irreparable harm.”

“(It) is fundamentally inconsistent with the public interest and consumer choice, exacerbates Denver’s housing crisis, and seeks to shift Denver’s energy demand to an electric system that faces historic and growing electricity demand,” the lawsuit says.

The Denver city attorney’s office declined to comment on the allegations Monday.

Early last year, the Denver City Council adopted a building code that included the ban. Some restrictions went into effect this year, and others will be put in place between 2025 and 2030.

“Denver has made it clear that addressing climate change is a top priority. Codes like these will help us get to net-zero emissions by 2040,” said then-Mayor Michael Hancock. said at the time.

The question before Judge Starnella is not whether the code is a positive change, but whether it is legal. Appliances are regulated by a 1970s federal law called the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which limits the power of cities to regulate appliances.

Last year, a federal court sided with a restaurant group and overturned a first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas appliances in Berkeley, California, because it violated the EPCA.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed last week are the Restaurant Law Center, the National Association of Home Builders, the Colorado Restaurant Association, the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the National Apartment Association and the National Propane Gas Association. They are suing the city and county of Denver.

“The chilling effect of the ban is already harming the livelihoods of Plaintiffs’ members, hurting income, disrupting long-term business strategy and asset planning, jeopardizing jobs and hiring and training programs, and hindering the ongoing maintenance of existing multifamily housing and the development of desperately needed new housing,” the plaintiffs say.

Their lawyers are Megan Berge and Scott Novak of the national firm Baker Botts.

Their lawsuit is the second to challenge Denver’s new limits on gas appliances. In April, the Colorado Apartment Association, the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the city’s restrictions and a state law that will impose limits next year. Motions by the city and state to dismiss that case are pending.