AHRI vs. City of Albuquerque, a case that I first posted on in 2008, finally reached its conclusion last week. In line with the preliminary injunction she ordered on October 3, 2008, Judge Maria Vazquez of the District of New Mexico decided that Albuquerque’s energy code was preempted by Federal law mandating the energy efficiency of HVAC equipment.
Appliance Magazine reported:
In the latest opinion, Judge Vazquez confirmed her Sept. 10, 2010, rulings:
(1) The prescriptive energy efficiency standards in the 2007 Albuquerque code that are more stringent than federal minimum efficiency standards are preempted and cannot be saved from federal preemption by the availability of alternative code compliance paths.
(2) A particular performance-based code compliance option is preempted because it is based on a standard reference design that uses efficiency levels that exceed federal efficiency standards. Responding to a summary judgment motion filed by the city that essentially asked Judge Vazquez to reconsider her earlier rulings, she declined to do so and denied the city’s motion.
A similar suit was filed by the Building Industry Association in 2010 to enjoin (or, in regular english, stop) the Washington State Energy Code from taking effect.
The foundation of both AHRI and BIA is in essence one of preemption–that the federal government has enacted laws that prevent lesser governmental authorities from passing laws on the same subject, here the Federal regulations governing the efficiency of HVAC equipment preempted state and local energy efficiency laws.
Interestingly, in the Washington case, the court found that the Washington State energy code was not preempted. This creates a split between the District of New Mexico and the Western District of Washington. It will make it more difficult for local governments to know the extent to which they can regulate HVAC energy efficiency, which may make local governments shy away from doing so.
