Red States Decry Energy Efficiency Rule Review at Fifth Circuit

A Fifth Circuit panel struggled Thursday with when and how entities are allowed to object to Energy Department rules as seven conservative states presented their challenge to conservation standards for stoves and ovens.

“The fact that the Department of Energy is making a standard and someone doesn’t like it—how can they ever make a standard if someone’s going to say it should be rejected and that ends it?” asked Judge Catharina Haynes.

“If states and industry and efficiency folks all come together and everybody agrees, then you can have a direct final rule,” said Joseph Scott St. John of ...