Wednesday, July 8, 2026

SoCal Businesses Lose Fight Over Gas-Powered Appliances

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

A person crosses a street as pollution fills the air in Los Angeles on Dec. 4, 2024. Photo by Andy Bao, AP Photo

Southern California air regulators can move forward with new limits on the sale of certain gas-powered appliances, including water heaters.

Despite pushback from businesses and developers, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling last week upheld restrictions on commercial and industrial gas appliances in four Los Angeles-area counties.

The ruling directly affects roughly 1.3 million water heaters and industrial boilers in L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the Sierra Club, a defendant in the lawsuit. South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted the mandate in 2024, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

• Noah Rott, a deputy press secretary at the Sierra Club, in a statement: “When fully implemented, the boiler rule will avoid over 2,800 early deaths, 11,800 cases of asthma, and 300,000 lost work and school days, yielding over $95 billion in health benefits.”

The air board earlier this year backed down from extending the restrictions to residences.

Opponents argued that the restrictions violated federal law by banning appliances protected by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, and that the rules would limit consumer choices and raise the cost of appliances.

But the court held the air district had the power to target pollution sources under the Clean Air Act.

• Circuit Judge Lucy Koh, in the majority opinion: “If Congress wanted to interfere with the system of federal-state collaboration set up by the (Clean Air Act), impede upon the EPA’s statutory authority to protect the public’s health and welfare, or restrict states’ ability to comply with federal air quality standards, one would expect Congress to have said so. But Congress said nothing.”

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