The City of San Luis Obispo on Tuesday announced a pause on its all-electric ordinance for new buildings while a court case is decided, temporarily bringing to a halt the city’s plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2035 by banning the use of natural gas.
The city said that property owners and developers may submit building permit applications for mixed-fuel buildings while litigation plays out, emphasizing, though, that mixed-fuel applicants may have to modify their building plans if the current ruling is overturned upon appeal.
An April 2023 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction in Berkeley, Calif. — a ban which the City of SLO had itself adopted.
Restaurant owners who sued the city argued Berkeley bypassed the Federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act when it moved forward with the ordinance, the news release said.
The panel agreed.
The City of Berkeley has appealed the ruling, so the case is not yet resolved, the news release said. If the full Ninth Circuit Court overrules the decision — and the Supreme Court is not brought in to settle the matter — the City of SLO said it will resume the enforcement of the all-electric ordinance.
