Attorney General Xavier Becerra: Energy Efficiency Standards Worth Fighting For

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with a broad coalition of state attorneys general, has challenged the U.S. Department of Energy’s unlawful delay in enforcing several important energy efficiency standards.

On Friday, March 31, Attorney General Becerra joined eight fellow Attorneys General in filing a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging the Department’s delay in issuing its Energy Conservation Standard for Ceiling Fans.  The Department of Energy has estimated that over a thirty-year period this standard would save enough electricity to power between 10 and 35 million U.S. households for a year.  The Standard for Ceiling Fans should have gone into effect on March 20, 2017, but has now been delayed twice by the Department of Energy.

Today, Attorney General Becerra, along with nine fellow Attorneys General, delivered a 60-day notice of intent to sue letter to Secretary of Energy Rick Perry concerning five additional energy efficiency standards.  The Energy Department issued these standards—for air compressors, commercial packaged boilers, portable air conditioners, walk-in coolers and freezers, and uninterruptible power supplies—in December 2016, and they are overdue for submission to the Federal Register to be published as final rules.

“Energy efficiency standards are a win-win for consumers and the environment,” said Attorney General Becerra.  “Over the lifetime of energy-efficient products, consumers are projected to save billions of dollars in energy costs. And, through reduced energy use, millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be eliminated.  Secretary Perry and the Trump Administration need to follow through on their obligation under the law to put these standards into effect without further delay.”

Attorney General Becerra was joined in filing the petition by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York.  Also joining Attorney General Becerra on the notice of intent to sue letter was the Attorney General for Maryland.