In dismissing a lawsuit filed by state and local construction and construction groups, a Judge of the Federal District Court of New York City has enabled local law 154, the electrification law of the city building, which establishes policy on natural gas connections emissions in most new structures of seven stories or less.
In his 16 -page ruling on March 18, Judge Ronnie Abrams of the United States District Court in Manhattan, dismissed the complaint with prejudice and allowed the city to enforce the current policy since 2024, which is planned to apply to buildings higher than seven stories in 2027. City.
Fill in the demand was local 1 of the Union of Plumbers and Pipefitters in North America and groups of contractors that include the National Association of Contractors for the refrigeration of plumbing. New York City Contractant Association, New York State Energy Coalition, Plumbing Foundation City of New York Inc. and Building Industry Association of New York City Inc.
Applicants say that the Law on Energy and Politics of the United States of 1975 may prevent cities and states from prohibiting gas in the new construction, preventing local law 154. However, the city moved to dismiss the lawsuit, counteracting that the law does not refer to energy.
Abrams said that local law 154 establishes the limits of interior air emissions for the combustion of fossil fuels in the new construction of buildings, of “any substance that emits 25 kilograms or more of carbon dioxide per million British energy of energy”. According to an analysis by Vincent Nolette, a member of the Sabin Center of Columbia University for climate change law, “this indirectly prohibits the installation of natural gas appliances, forcing developers to install appliances such as induction burners and heat pumps”.
He says that New York City Act is different from that of Berkeley, California, which established a wholesale ban on natural gas pipes and was challenged by a restaurant trade group in 2023 and ruled illegal when he appeared to a San Francisco Federal Appeal Court.
“The decision of Judge Abrams is reasonable and we agree with this,” said Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city. “Congress had no intention of a statute that regulates the standards of apparatus efficiency to require that the cities continue to use fossil fuels.”
“We are planning to appeal,” lawyer Sarah Jorgensen, who represents the plaintiffs, said to Enr “We had supposed that this case and the case against New York State would probably end before the second circuit [appellate court]. “He also represented the California Restaurants Association that defied the Berkeley Ordinance.
“This decision shows that the laws of construction decarbonization that focus on performance standards instead of direct prohibitions are on a strong legal foot, especially when considered to other laws of successful local buildings,” says Nolette.
Mike Elmendorf, President and CEO of the New York General Contractorist Association, refused to comment.
