Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in drafting a comment letter in opposition to a new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposal regarding consumer boilers.
The DOE’s proposal would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) and impose new “energy conservation standards” for consumer boilers. The DOE says its proposal to impose such standards is “projected to yield significant environmental and climate benefits.”
“Once again, Tennessee, and other state attorneys general, are pushing back against federal overreach in an effort to protect consumers,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “Excessive federal regulation hurts consumers and undermines the core constitutional structure on which our nation is built.”
In the comment letter filed last week, the coalition of attorneys general called the DOE’s latest proposal on consumer boilers part of its “relentless efforts to micromanage every aspect of American life.”
The coalition highlighted several issues that make the DOE’s proposed standards problematic in its letter.
The attorneys general argue the proposed standards rely on “faulty social-cost estimates,” which “undermines the DOE’s credibility.” In addition, the coalition says the proposed standards “violate Executive Order 13,132 by disregarding federalism concerns, and they fail to address the EPCA’s constitutional issues.”
The coalition also expressed its “deep concern” regarding DOE’s “failure to consider important rulemaking factors, such as time for meaningful review, economic hardship, and strain on the energy infrastructure.”
“The Standards will push non-condensing boilers off the market entirely, and many American homes are architecturally designed only for non-condensing boilers. Thus, many Americans would be forced to spend significant time and expense replacing the boiler in their home, and this would particularly impact low-income households,” the attorneys general added.
“We again call on the Department to stop micromanaging Americans’ lives and to start addressing the serious concerns presented by its proposed standards. Americans deserve better,” the coalition concluded.
The DOE’s proposal targeting consumer boilers follows its string of proposals to impose new standards on other consumer appliances, including clothes washers and dryers, microwave ovens, stoves, ceiling fans, refrigerators, dishwashers, dehumidifiers, and more.
Last month, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star, Skrmetti filed a public comment opposing DOE’s proposal to set new efficiency standards for consumer water heaters.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
