Federal Court Smacks Down ‘Arbitrary’ Biden Rule Regulating Dishwashers, Laundry Machines

President Joe Biden’s climate change-obsessed Department of Energy (DOE) was wrong when it reversed Trump-era rules making dishwashers and laundry machines more efficient for Americans, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. 

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the agency acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner when it repealed laundry machine and dishwasher rules designed to cut down on wash times. The order, penned by Judge Andrew Oldham, also notes that “it is unclear that the DOE has any statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and clothes washers.” 

“Even if DOE could consider dishwashers’ and clothes washers’ efficiency in both energy use and water use, the 2020 Rules likely promoted greater efficiency in both categories than the Repeal Rule,” he wrote. “Assuming both energy conservation metrics are on the table, the States argue, and DOE does not appear to dispute, that one important aspect of that problem is whether appliance regulations actually reduce energy and water consumption.”

In 2018, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) asked the DOE to consider energy regulations which it said hampered the ability of dishwashers to properly wash dishes. The CEI asked the DOE to define a new class of dishwashers under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 to allow for dishwashers to perform a normal cycle duration in under one hour.

The DOE agreed and eventually adopted a rule defining a class of dishwasher and standard residential dishwashers “with a cycle time for the normal cycle of one hour or less from washing through drying.”

The DOE at the time pointed out that many commenters in the proposal stage supported the change because existing regulations “were counterproductive to the goal of increasing energy efficiency of dishwashers as many consumers end up running their dishwasher multiple times to get dishes clean,” the order reads. 

The DOE then set out on its own to make a similar rule for laundry machines. In December of 2020, the agency released its final rule creating new classes of top-loading consumer clothes washers and consumer clothes dryers with a “normal cycle time of less than 30 minutes.”  The DOE also created a class of front-loading residential washers with a normal cycle under 45 minutes. 

However, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on the first day of his presidency directing the DOE to reconsider the 2020 Dishwasher Rule and the 2020 Laundry Rule. By August of 2022, the agency revoked both rules, and a group of states led by Louisiana subsequently sued.

The Fifth Circuit found that the administrative record goes against Biden’s DOE because rolling back the Trump-era rules would ultimately result in “mak[ing] Americans use more energy and more water for the simple reason that purportedly ‘energy efficient’ appliances do not work.”

“So Americans who want clean dishes or clothes may use more energy and more water to preclean, reclean, or handwash their stuff before, after, or in lieu of using DOE-regulated appliances,” the order reads. 

The panel ultimately said the DOE “failed to adequately consider appliance performance, substitution effects, and the ample record evidence that DOE’s conservation standards are causing Americans to use more energy and water rather than less.”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill celebrated the ruling in a post to X on Tuesday, calling the order a “big win” for families. 

“It’s not ‘energy efficient to have to wash your dishes and clothes twice (for hours). The Biden Administration’s dishwasher rule saved neither energy nor water,” Murrill said. “For families- moms, dads, and kids who do laundry and dishes, this is a big win! We want appliances that work. I’ll keep fighting these irrational attacks on families and consumers by bureaucrats in D.C.”  

Will Hild, executive director for Consumers’ Research, released a statement praising the ruling and slamming the Biden administration’s insidious climate-change agenda. 

“The 5th Circuit’s ruling is a vindication of everything we’ve been saying about the Biden administration’s anti-consumer choice agenda. Their supposed ‘green’ regulations weren’t about saving the environment, they were about restricting options and telling Americans how to live,” Hild said. “Using their ESG agenda as an excuse, they’ve passed restrictions on everything from gas stoves to dishwashers to clothes dryers. These would be ruinous for Americans if allowed to stand. We are proud to be part of the fight to keep Biden’s intrusive government out of our kitchens and laundry rooms.”

Marc Morano, executive editor and founder of Climate Depot for a Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) said the Fifth Circuit “revealed legal sanity in the battle to stop the climate-based policy misery on the American people.” 

“The federal courts have finally recognized the Biden administration’s appliance energy restrictions for what they are — a complete bypassing of democracy through the unelected regulatory state,” Morano said. “The court also recognizes that zapping energy and water out of major home appliances may not actually save energy in the end, due to the appliances’ crappier performance. The court revealed legal sanity in the battle to stop the climate-based policy misery on the American people.” 

The ruling comes as the Biden administration continues its efforts to regulate household appliances in the name of saving the planet. The DOE has notably pursued regulations targeting home furnaces, gas stoves, water heaters, refrigerators, and several other appliances — an agenda Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the DOE plans to continue in 2024.

The case is Louisiana v. Department of Energy, No. 22-60146 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.