Sixteen AGs Filed Comments Opposing Unlawful Energy Efficiency Carve-Out for Fast-Cycle Washers and Dryers

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum led a coalition of 16 attorneys general in submitting comments in opposition to a proposal by the Department of Energy to create a new product class under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) for fast-cycle clothes washers and dryers. The proposal would exempt such appliances from EPCA energy efficiency standards altogether—including from baseline standards set by Congress—in violation of the statute’s anti-backsliding provision. The attorneys general also challenged the department’s dubious assertion that the proposal need not undergo National Environmental Policy Act review, emphasizing that “[i]t is self-evident that if adopting a standard has environmental benefits, carving out exemptions to that standard—which is what establishing these ‘new product classes’ would do—will result in detrimental environmental impacts.”