Restaurants Must Revise Arguments in Berkeley’s Natural Gas Ban

The California Restaurant Association must change its lawsuit over Berkeley’s law to bar natural gas hookups in new construction, a federal judge ordered the trade association Tuesday, with an eye to a possible appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers told the California Restaurant Association to come back in 30 days with an amended lawsuit.

The statewide trade group sued to bar Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation law banning new hookups in most situations, arguing the law passed last year violated the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which regulates the energy efficiency ...