Dan Eisenberg Quoted in InsideEPA on Fifth Circuit’s Ruling Dropping Biden-Era Stove Efficiency Standards
Principal Dan Eisenberg (Washington, DC) recently spoke with InsideEPA about the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s August 11 decision striking down the Biden-era efficiency standards for consumer stoves and cooktops and remanding the rulemaking to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for further action. The Trump administration had defended DOE’s February 2024 rule last fall, but a panel of three Republican-appointed judges ruled that the process followed by the Biden administration to issue the rule violated the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
B&D previously examined the case and its potential implications for appliance manufacturers, energy stakeholders, and environmental interests in “Fifth Circuit Hears Challenge to DOE’s Conventional Cooking Products Efficiency Rule Amid Broader Regulatory Crosscurrents.”
In “5th Circuit’s Efficiency Rule Remand Could Limit Negotiated Standards,” InsideEPA reported that the decision could place new limits on DOE’s use of direct final rules (DFRs), a process that allows the agency to adopt efficiency standards based on negotiated agreements among manufacturers, industry groups, and efficiency advocates.
Dan noted that while DOE did not frequently rely on the DFR process to begin with for substantive rulemakings such as the establishment of new efficiency standards, he expects it to “come up less now, because it’s going to be so hard” to proceed when any party objects.
Dan also highlighted what he described as a “very notable” aspect of the opinion: its potential to encourage industry groups and state attorneys general to bring future DOE challenges before the Fifth Circuit. He interpreted the court’s message as: “If there's something that DOE does that you don't like, you want to bring your challenge here, because we are receptive to an argument that the department has overreached.”
Dan counsels a wide range of manufacturing and retail industry clients on compliance with state and federal appliance-efficiency programs and defends enforcement actions brought under those programs.
B&D’s Consumer Products industry group works with local, U.S., and multinational companies that make, distribute, transport, or sell consumer products in a hyper-competitive and evolving consumer goods market to help them identify, understand, and comply with complex regulatory requirements throughout the product lifecycle.
