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States Sue Feds Over Appliance Energy Standards

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September 9, 2005
A coalition of 15 states and the City of New York is suing the federal Department of Energy for violating Congressionally enacted mandates to adopt stronger energy-saving standards for 22 common appliances that use large amounts of electricity, natural gas and oil by clearly specified deadlines stated in the law.

The standards sought by the lawsuit, according to the federal government’s own numbers, would generate substantial savings for consumers and reduce air pollution and global warming emissions from power plants.

"As oil and gas prices hit record levels and the impacts of global warming become more apparent, it is profoundly disappointing that the federal government has failed to adopt these crucial energy saving standards," New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. "The law requires it, and common sense dictates it. These standards will save energy and money for consumers and help protect our health and environment."

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said, "Energy efficient appliances help protect the environment and our pocketbooks. These conservation goals are simply common sense."

Congress directed the Department of Energy to strengthen efficiency standards for a wide range of household and commercial products, including furnaces, water heaters, clothes washers, dryers, air conditioners, dishwashers, heat pumps, motors, ranges, ovens, motors and lamps.

Congress established initial efficiency standards for most of the products, and directed the Department of Energy periodically to review and strengthen them. For the remaining products the Department of Energy is to establish the initial efficiency standards and also periodically strengthen them.

The Department of Energy is six to thirteen years behind schedule and has not adopted any appliance efficiency standards since January 2001.

Appliance efficiency standards capitalize on improved technology and require that the covered appliances use less electricity, gas or oil while providing the same or improved levels of service and reliability. In the past, both the federal government and industry have agreed that national efficiency standards are among the fairest and most cost-effective way to reduce the use of energy.

Based on the Department of Energy’s estimates, the average annual energy savings would meet the total annual energy needs of between 3 million to 12 million American households, depending on how fast the new standards are phased in and what the new standards are. Annual electricity savings alone would approximately equal to the output of 13 - 42 large power plants.

Energy efficiency experts estimate that existing federal appliance efficiency standards are expected by 2010 to lower electricity costs by over $20 billion per year. The new and strengthened standards that Congress required and that the states are suing to implement would increase those savings.

The states wrote to the Department of Energy on July 1, 2005, requesting that it comply with the law and commit to a binding schedule for the establishment of stronger efficiency standards. They alerted the agency that without such a schedule, the states would commence federal litigation. To date, the Department of Energy has not responded to the letter.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York by the following:

• New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
• California Attorney General Bill Lockyer
• California Energy Commission
• Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal
• Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan
• Iowa Attorney General Thomas J. Miller
• Maine Attorney General G. Steven Rowe
• Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly
• New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte
• New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
• New Mexico Attorney General Patricia A. Madrid
• North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper
• Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection Commissioner Kathleen McGinty
• Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch
• Vermont Attorney General William H. Sorrell
• Wisconsin Attorney General Peggy A. Lautenschlager
• The City of New York

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