Court OKs California Energy Efficiency Law

Californians can get more information on energy efficient products, after a court ruled the proposed State law is not in conflict with weaker federal regulations:

The state regulations, unique in the nation and a source of information for consumers and utility companies, were frozen by a federal judge in late 2002, as an expansion of the rules was about to take effect. U.S. District Judge William Shubb said states can't exceed federal requirements for disclosures of energy efficiency.

But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a state can exceed federal standards when requiring appliance manufacturers to provide information related to their products' energy consumption.

A federal law, passed in 1975 in response to the Arab oil embargo, set uniform nationwide criteria for energy efficiency and energy-related labeling of appliances but didn't restrict states' authority to collect additional data from manufacturers, said Judge Sidney Thomas.