Natural gas stoves are at the center of a federal lawsuit challenging Morgan Hill and Petaluma ordinances that restrict gas infrastructure in new buildings. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
The Trump administration on Monday sued the cities of Morgan Hill and Petaluma, asking a judge to block local laws that ban natural gas infrastructure in new buildings.
In the complaint, the federal government says Morgan Hill adopted its ban in 2019 and Petaluma followed with its own in 2021, arguing both measures violate federal law.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, asks the court to declare the ordinances invalid and permanently stop the cities from enforcing them.
Federal attorneys say the local rules conflict with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, a federal law that sets national standards for how appliances use energy. By effectively prohibiting gas-powered stoves, furnaces, water heaters and other equipment in new construction, the government argues, the cities are regulating products that Congress placed under federal control.
The complaint points to a 2024 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case involving the city of Berkeley. In that decision, the court said cities cannot ban the installation of natural gas piping in new buildings because such restrictions are overridden by federal law.
The complaint also says other California cities have rolled back similar laws since the Ninth Circuit ruling. That decision has shaped how cities and counties across the region have handled their own natural gas rules. In Sonoma County, supervisors in 2024 suspended a ban on natural gas in new construction after the court’s decision, saying they needed more time to evaluate legal and practical implications. The same year, Napa County supervisors approved a building code that encourages all-electric new homes, though it stops short of an outright ban on gas. In the South Bay, Contra Costa County paused all-electric building requirements and a natural gas ban for new construction while officials reviewed legal concerns raised by the Berkeley case.
San Jose was among the largest California cities to move new construction toward all-electric standards beginning in 2019 and 2020 as part of its climate plan. Following the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in the Berkeley case, the city paused enforcement of those requirements while it updated its building codes to align with state rules and federal law.
In the lawsuit, federal attorneys argue Morgan Hill and Petaluma fall on the other side of that legal line.
The government says Morgan Hill’s ordinance “functions to ban all use of gas appliances in new buildings” unless a limited exception applies. It makes a similar allegation about Petaluma’s ordinance, which applies to new buildings and major renovations, with some exceptions and an option for a waiver in certain cases.
The filing also notes that federal standards already cover many natural gas-fueled products, including water heaters, furnaces, clothes dryers, stoves and pool heaters.
The complaint says neither city has asked the U.S. Department of Energy for permission to enforce rules that would conflict with federal standards.
City officials in Morgan Hill and Petaluma did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
This story is developing.
Originally published at Bay Area News Group