Federal Court Stops Biden Administration Regulations on Dishwashers and Washing Machines

January 9, 2024

This week, it was announced that the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Biden Administration government mandates targeting dishwashers and washing machines. Eleven states challenged the Department of Energy, including Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. 

The Daily Caller reports, 

“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.”

The scathing opinion from the court discusses the fact that the DOE did not take into account all the consequences of the mandates,  

“The 2022 DOE was required to reasonably consider the relevant issues and reasonably explain its decisions in the Repeal Rule. Ibid. It failed to do so. Specifically, it (a) is unclear that DOE has statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and clothes washers. 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. And in all events, the 2022 DOE (c) failed to adequately consider the impact of the energy conservation program on “performance characteristics.”’

Throughout 2023, the Biden Administration released multiple unnecessary appliance regulations that will make the appliances less efficient and raise costs for families across the U.S. In 2024, we hope to see more rulings like the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals because consumers have a right to purchase the items that work best for their households.