The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently asked a federal court to force the U.S. Department of Energy to implement updated energy-saving standards for general-service lamps.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 contains a backstop provision that says if the DOE did not complete a new rulemaking for general-service lamps by 2017, or if the new rulemaking did not achieve a minimum energy standard of 45 lumens per watt, effective in January 2020, the DOE must prohibit the sale of all general-service lamps that are less efficacious, effectively eliminating halogen A-lamps from the market. The Department of Energy took the position that the backstop provisions were not automatically triggered.
The NRDC lawsuit challenges DOE’s “final determination” announced late last year not to go forward.
This is the NRDC’s second lawsuit against DOE in the past six months. In the earlier case, the groups opposed DOE’s reversal of a rule expanding the types of lamps required to become more energy efficient as of January 1, including three-way, candle-shaped, and globe-shaped lamps.
Joining NRDC in the lawsuits are Earthjustice (representing the Sierra Club, Consumer Federation of America, and Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants); the U.S. Public Interest Research Group; and Environment America. In addition, a group of states led by New York and California, plus the city of New York and the District of Columbia, filed similar lawsuits in the same court.
