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| -Land of the Free |
| Federal Court Throws Wrench into Biden Admin’s War on Appliances |
| 2024-01-10 |
| [DailyCaller] A federal appeals court shot down the Biden administration’s efforts to repeal existing regulations on dishwashers and clothes washers on Monday. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a legal battle between eleven red states and the federal government over the Department of Energy’s (DOE) efforts to impose energy and water efficiency standards for dishwashers and clothes washers that asserted it "is unclear that DOE has statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and clothes washers," according to the opinion’s text. The Biden administration has attempted to push new standards for both appliances since coming into office in 2021 as part of a wider push to nudge the market toward more energy efficient appliances, which in some cases are generally less effective than their other models, the court asserted in its opinion. In March 2018, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) proposed standards for dishwashers that allow the sale of models that run faster cycles, using more energy and water than standard dishwashers in the process. The Trump administration then adopted similar guidelines as policy in 2020, but the Biden DOE repealed those standards in 2021 before advancing its own standards that crack down on the faster models advantaged by the Trump administration’s rules in May 2023. "But even if DOE has water-usage authority over the relevant appliances, the Department (b) failed to adequately consider the negative consequences of the Repeal Rule, including the substitution effects of energy-and-water-wasting rewashing, prewashing, and handwashing," the opinion states. "In promulgating the Repeal Rule, DOE stated that its energy conservation program must promote ’water conservation’ and regulate ’water use’ ... But it is unclear how or why DOE thinks it has any statutory authority to regulate ’water use’ in dishwashers and washing machines." "In our court, however, DOE pretends it repealed the 2020 rules because it committed merely procedural errors by ’failing to adequately consider the [Energy Policy Conservation Act’s] requirements ... It borders on frivolous to say the 2020 Rules failed to consider" the relevant statutes, as "the 2020 Rules considered these sections extensively," the opinion states. The DOE "amplified its capriciousness by throwing the baby out with the bathwater." The court’s opinion also points out that there is "ample evidence" to support that DOE’s dishwasher standards actually accomplish the opposite of their intent, stating that "they make Americans use more energy and more water for the simple reason that purportedly ’energy efficient’ appliances do not work." Beyond clothes washers and dishwashers, the Biden DOE has also sought to impose energy efficiency regulations for items like water heaters, furnaces and pool pump motors. The administration has also spent hundreds of millions of dollars on helping state and municipal governments pursue building codes "In this opinion, the court has forced DOE to follow the law and even noted that one of the positions DOE took in this suit ’borders on frivolous.’ This decision allows manufacturers to build better dishwashers, not be encumbered by counterproductive federal regulations," Devin Watkins, an attorney for CEI, said of the opinion. The DOE did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Related: Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: 2023-10-05 Biden agency 'likely' violated free speech by working with Big Tech to censor election content: court Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: 2023-09-10 A huge win for free speech Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: 2023-08-11 Biden DOJ to fight court order that blocked feds from colluding with Big Tech to censor speech |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #9 Just spent $400 for a clutch in a Kenmore top loader washer manufactured in the 90’s. They did throw in a free gauge thing, so I don’t use pliers to guess the water temp anymore |
| Posted by: Beavis 2024-01-10 21:13 |
| #8 Chapter 104 in the Biden regulatory state exceeding their written congressional authority; at least a judge called bullshit on this one. |
| Posted by: Raj 2024-01-10 14:16 |
| #7 The new water efficient toilet has to be flushed twice. Won't be a problem when you Eat Ze Bugs |
| Posted by: Frank G 2024-01-10 13:43 |
| #6 My "energy efficient" dryer usually takes 2 cycles. Ditto the dishwasher. The new "energy efficient" electric range takes a long time to boil water. The new water efficient toilet has to be flushed twice. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2024-01-10 13:20 |
| #5 Every appliance in my house is brand new, they are all shit. |
| Posted by: Chris 2024-01-10 11:40 |
| #4 Lost her spin cycle on a heavy load? The concrete momentum ring on my dryer rapidly disassembled. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-01-10 11:25 |
| #3 me, too. Of course she's now my ex-wife.... Probably a lot of grinding and whining noises before the failure. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2024-01-10 06:50 |
| #2 ^ me, too. Of course she's now my ex-wife.... |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2024-01-10 05:46 |
| #1 I've replaced several dishwashers over the years. My current one is now 100% efficient. It uses absolutely no water or electricity. It did such a poor job out of its box that I stopped using it altogether. |
| Posted by: Elmaper McGurque1612 2024-01-10 02:24 |