Well the Elderly and Fixed Income American's don't have to worry about spending their hard earned Money on New Appliances to Conform to Government Rule... Errr Ummm Laws!!!
Apush by the Biden administration to make dishwashers and washing machines more efficient was shot down by a judge as "arbitrary and capricious," after 11 Republican-run states brought legal action over the rule changes.
In a ruling on Monday, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Andrew Oldham said that it was unclear whether the Department of Energy (DOE) had the statutory authority to regulate water use in such appliances, and that the new rules it had proposed might not lead to less water use.
In March, the DOE announced it would be introducing new energy efficiency measures beginning in 2027. For dishwashers, it expected to save consumers $3 billion over the following three decades and 240 billion gallons of water—roughly 360,000 Olympic-size swimming pools—as well as avoiding 12.5 million metric tons of CO2 being released into the atmosphere.
At the time, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the department was "using all of the tools at our disposal to save Americans money while promoting innovations that will reduce carbon pollution and combat the climate crisis."
However, critics of the changes argued that the administration was meddling in consumer products. It came following Republican outrage over fears it was attempting to ban gas stoves, which while since dismissed, continues to be mentioned as part of narrative that climate change policies were being used to limit Americans' freedom.
According to the ruling, the DOE changed regulations regarding dishwashers and washing machines by revoking a 2020 rule excluding short-cycle appliances from existing requirements, which prompted a legal review.
"There is no fourth branch of government sanctioned in the United States Constitution," Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, among those to bring the review, wrote following the court ruling. "Federal bureaucrats can't just tell you what kind of appliances you have to use."
Newsweek approached the DOE via email on Tuesday for comment.
In the judgment, Oldham said that Congress appeared not to have given the DOE the authority to regulate water usage in appliances that also used energy—instead giving it authority to regulate energy usage, as well as water usage in appliances that do not require energy, such as faucets and showerheads.
The Trump-appointed judge went on to argue that, even if the DOE did have such a regulatory authority, it "failed to adequately consider the negative consequences" of its revisions, such as consumers using more water to clean items that had not been properly cleaned on energy-efficient cycles.
Oldham said there was "ample evidence" of the standards making consumers' water usage less efficient in administrative evidence. The DOE argued in a May notice, however, that appliances would have to meet minimum cleaning threshold to comply with its standards.
"[The revised standards] make Americans use more energy and more water for the simple reason that purportedly 'energy efficient' appliances do not work," Oldham wrote. "Americans who want clean dishes or clothes may use more energy and more water to preclean, reclean, or handwash their stuff before, after, or in lieu of using DOE-regulated appliances."
He remanded the matter to the DOE to proceed consistent with his opinion.
Since President Joe Biden entered the White House, he has attempted to tackle the causes of climate change across government while pushing the transition to renewable energy. Monday's ruling noted that the DOE's water efficiency changes had been prompted by an executive order he issued the day he took office.
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