A lawsuit has been filed against the air quality regulatory agency that is attempting to phase out gas-fired heaters and boilers in Southern California.

On December 5, 2024, Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP (RJLF) filed a lawsuit challenging the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (AQMD) new regulations that effectively ban natural gas heaters and boilers — including pool heaters — beginning January 2028 for new construction and January 2032 for existing residential and commercial applications.

The lawsuit comes in response to the South Coast AQMD June 2024 rule to establish a zero nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission standard for certain gas appliances, effectively mandating a transition to electric appliances.

The ruling would apply to most of Los Angelos, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, an area composed of close to 17 million people.

The agency’s goal is to replace more than 1 million gas burning heating appliances (which includes about 700,000 pool heaters and 300,000 tankless water heaters) with those that meet a zeroemission NOx standard when replaced.

For the pool and spa industry, this regulation directly impacts natural gas

South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (AQMD) new regulations that effectively ban natural gas heaters and boilers — including pool heaters — beginning January 2028 for new construction and January 2032 for existing residential and commercial applications. Heaters

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pool heaters commonly used in both residential homes and commercial facilities, such as hotels, apartment complexes, gyms, and recreational centers.

According to court filings, the regulation would impose a financial burden on many residents and businesses that use natural gas for furnaces and boilers, cooking appliances, water heaters, and other equipment.

“Banning gas-fired instantaneous (tankless) water heaters, boilers, pool and spa heaters, or other appliances is fundamentally inconsistent with the public interest and consumer choice, will exacerbate California’s problem of housing affordability, and will shift energy demand onto already overburdened electric grids,” the complaint states.

The South Coast AQMD rule does not prohibit the use of gas appliances, but rather their NOx emissions. Nitrogen oxides are gases that contribute to air pollution, and are a byproduct of combustion.

But prohibiting NOx emissions effectively prohibits the use of the gas appliances, which operate by combustion, according to the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance.

The complaint states, “such a de facto ban runs afoul of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA),” a 1975 federal law that authorizes federal officials to set energy efficiency standards for appliances such as furnaces and water heaters.

More specifically, EPCA is a federal statute that regulates the energy efficiency of several consumer products including water heaters, furnaces, stoves, etc.

Thus, plaintiffs argue, the EPCA preempts state and local regulations concerning the energy use of many natural gas appliances.

The lawsuit has legal precedent. In 2019, the California Restaurant Association sued the city of Berkeley for prohibiting natural gas piping in newly constructed buildings, which would have had the effect of prohibiting the gas appliances themselves.

Ultimately, the Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the restaurant association, holding that EPCA’s preemption clause supersedes state and local regulations that relate to the energy consumption of certain appliances at the place where those appliances are used.

The current lawsuit holds that the same argument applies.

“So too here,” the complaint states. “The district cannot do indirectly by banning combustion emissions what it cannot do directly by banning gas appliances.”

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a diverse coalition of manufacturers, businesses, affordable housing advocates, and labor groups that oppose measures that impact industries relying on natural gas-powered equipment.

The Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, although not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, supports the effort and has contributed $50,000 to help fund the undertaking.

John Norwood, Director of Government Relations for the California Pool and Spa Association, is hopeful they will win.

“We simply would not contribute $50,000 if we thought we would lose,” Norwood said.