Description: Challenge to revocation of Trump administration Energy Conservation Program rules that established separate product classes for certain short-cycle dishwashers and clothes washers and dryers.
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Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Energy
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/08/2024 Opinion Download Petition for review granted and matter remanded to Department of Energy for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. Fifth Circuit Said Repeal of Efficiency Standards for Short-Cycle Appliances Was Arbitrary and Capricious. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a 2022 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it repealed energy efficiency standards adopted in 2020 for dishwashers and laundry machines with shorter cycle times. As a threshold matter, the Fifth Circuit rejected the federal defendants’ argument that the states challenging the 2022 rule lacked standing. On the merits, the Fifth Circuit first found that it was unclear whether DOE had statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and laundry machines and that, even if it did, the agency “failed to adequately consider the negative consequences” of repealing the 2020 standards, including the substitution effects of energy-and-water-wasting rewashing, prewashing, and handwashing,” and also failed to adequately consider the “impact of the energy conservation program on ‘performance characteristics,’” such as cycle time. The Fifth Circuit also held that DOE’s belief that the 2020 standards were legally invalid was an insufficient basis for repealing the standards and that DOE should have considered alternatives to complete elimination of standards for short-cycle appliances. 04/12/2023 Declaration Download Supplemental declaration filed by petitioner states pursuant to court's March 28, 2023 order and Rule 28(j). 07/06/2022 Brief Download Opening brief filed by state petitioners. 03/17/2022 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed.