CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office has joined a Nebraska-led coalition of 23 states in opposing the Biden administration’s new energy-efficiency standards for stoves and ovens.
Morrisey and the coalition, led by Nebraska AG Mike Hilgers, say the rule will increase the costs for kitchen appliances nationwide.
The June 3 letter was addressed to DoE Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
“Again, this administration is showing its lack of empathy and lack of consideration for the average consumer, who undoubtedly will be most affected by appliance price hikes due to the new regulations,” Morrisey said in a press release. “The unelected bureaucrats in the Department of Energy are trying to get in your kitchens and overregulate them to advance Biden’s radical green new deal.”
The new energy-efficiency standards for stoves and ovens are similar to new regulations on household refrigerators and freezers. Like those regulations, the new rule targeting stoves and ovens was proposed through a little-used procedure known as a “direct final rule,” whereby a federal agency skips the normal process of allowing interested parties to submit comments before finalizing a rule. The comment letter calls on the DoE to give the states and consumers an opportunity to critique the rule before it takes effect.
Morrisey also recently joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in a comment letter to the DoE, raising serious concerns over the agency’s proposed new rule involving refrigerators and freezers. In 2023, he joined a letter to the DoE raising issues on a similar proposal, which included new rules for residential clothes washers.
Morrisey joined the Nebraska-led comment letter Monday with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
