Cra v. City of Berkeley ( 2023 )

FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT No. 21-16278
ASSOCIATION, a California
nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, D.C. No.
4:19-cv-07668-
Plaintiff-Appellant, YGR
v.
OPINION
CITY OF BERKELEY,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of California
Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted May 12, 2022
San Francisco, California
Filed April 17, 2023
Before: Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain and Patrick J. Bumatay,
Circuit Judges, and M. Miller Baker, * Judge.
*
The Honorable M. Miller Baker, Judge for the United States Court of
International Trade, sitting by designation.
2 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
Opinion by Judge Bumatay;
Concurrence by Judge O’Scannlain;
Concurrence by Judge Baker
SUMMARY **
Energy Law / Preemption
The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal of the
California Restaurant Association’s action alleging that the
Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempts a City of
Berkeley regulation that prohibits the installation of natural
gas piping within newly constructed buildings.
The panel held that the California Restaurant
Association, whose members include restaurateurs and
chefs, had Article III associational standing to bring this suit
because it demonstrated that (1) at least one of its members
had suffered an injury in fact that was (a) concrete and
particularized and (b) actual or imminent, rather than
conjectural or hypothetical; (2) the injury was fairly
traceable to the challenged action; and (3) it was likely, not
merely speculative, that the injury would be redressed by a
favorable decision. Specifically, the Association established
that the ordinance would imminently harm its members
because it alleged that its members would open or relocate a
restaurant in Berkeley but for the city’s ban on natural gas
piping.
**
This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has
been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 3
The panel held that the Energy Policy and Conservation
Act preempts the Berkeley ordinance. The panel wrote that,
in this express preemption case, it addressed the plain
meaning of the Act without any presumptive thumb on the
scale for or against preemption. The Act expressly preempts
State and local regulations concerning the energy use of
many natural gas appliances, including those used in
household and restaurant kitchens. Instead of directly
banning those appliances in new buildings, Berkeley took a
more circuitous route to the same result and enacted a
building code that prohibits natural gas piping into those
buildings, rendering the gas appliances useless. The panel
held that, by its plain text and structure, the Act’s preemption
provision encompasses building codes that regulate natural
gas use by covered products. By preventing such appliances
from using natural gas, the Berkeley building code did
exactly that. The panel reversed and remanded for further
proceedings.
Concurring, Judge O’Scannlain wrote that he agreed that
the Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempts the
Berkeley ordinance, but he only reached that conclusion
because, under Ninth Circuit precedent, he was bound to
hold that the presumption against preemption does not apply
to the express-preemption provision at issue. Judge
O’Scannlain wrote, however, that the law regarding the
presumption against preemption in express-preemption
cases is troubling and confused—beset by tensions in
Supreme Court precedents, disagreement among the circuits,
and important practical questions still unanswered.
Concurring, Judge Baker stated that he wrote separately
to express his reservations about the Association’s standing
and to explain his understanding of why the City of
Berkeley’s ordinance invades the core area preempted by the
4 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Judge Baker wrote
that, at the pleading stage, an organization need not identify
any specific injured member in order to establish
associational standing, but it must do so at summary
judgment or trial. As to preemption, Judge Baker wrote that
the Berkeley ordinance cut to the heart of what Congress
sought to prevent—state and local manipulation of building
codes for new construction to regulate the natural gas
consumption of covered products when gas service is
otherwise available to the premises where such products are
used. Judge Baker therefore joined the panel opinion in full.
COUNSEL
Brian C. Baran (argued), Courtland L. Reichman, Laura
Carwile, and Ariel C. Green Anaba, Reichman Jorgensen
Lehman & Feldberg LLP, Redwood Shores, California;
Sarah Jorgensen, Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg
LLP, Atlanta, Georgia; Kylie Chiseul Kim, Kellogg Hansen
Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC, Washington, D.C.; Gary J.
Toman, Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial, Atlanta,
Georgia; for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Anthony L. Francois (argued) and Peter S. Prows, Briscoe
Ivester & Bazel LLP, San Francisco, California; Farima Faiz
Brown and Brendan Darrow, Deputy City Attorneys; Office
of the City Attorney; Berkeley, California; for Defendant-
Appellee.
Thomas G. Pulham (argued), Michael S. Raab, and H.
Thomas Byron III, Appellate Staff Attorneys; Stephanie
Hinds, Acting United States Attorney; Brian M. Boynton,
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 5
Acting Assistant Attorney General; United States
Department of Justice; Washington, D.C.; Emily Hammond,
Deputy General Counsel for Litigation Regulation and
Enforcement; Samuel T. Walsh, General Counsel;
Department of Energy; Washington, D.C.; for Amicus
Curiae United States of America.
Michael L. Murray and Matthew J. Agen, American Gas
Association, Washington, D.C., for Amicus Curiae
American Gas Association.
Megan H. Berge, Baker Botts LLP, San Francisco,
California; Francesca Eick, Baker Botts LLP, Austin, Texas;
JoAnna Adkisson, Baker Botts LLP, Washington, D.C.; for
Amici Curiae Air Conditioning Heating and Refrigeration
Institute; California Building Industry Association, Hearth
Patio & Barbecue Association; National Association of
Home Builders, and National Association of Manufacturers.
Michael Burger, Jennifer Danis, and Amy E. Turner, Sabin
Center for Climate Change Law, New York, New York, for
Amici Curiae National League of Cities, League of
California Cities, and California State Association of
Counties.
Somerset Perry, M. Elaine Meckenstock, Jonathan A.
Wiener, and Theodore A. McCombs, Deputy Attorneys
General; Myung J. Park and David A. Zonana, Supervising
Deputy Attorneys General; Robert W. Byrne and Edward H.
Ochoa, Senior Assistant Attorneys General; Rob Bonta,
Attorney General of California; Office of the California
Attorney General; San Diego, California; for Amici Curiae
the States of California, Maryland, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, the
6 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the District of Columbia,
and the City of New York.
Regina J. Hsu, Earthjustice, San Francisco, California;
Timothy R. Oberleiton, Earthjustice, Washington, D.C.; for
Amici Curiae Climate Health Now and San Francisco Bay
Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Daniel N. Carpenter-Gold, Cara A. Horowitz, and Julia E.
Stein, UCLA Law School Frank G. Wells Environmental
Law Clinic, Los Angeles, California, for Amici Curiae
Energy and Environmental Law Professors.
Kimberly E. Leefatt, Natural Resources Defense Council,
Santa Monica, California; Thomas Zimpleman, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Washington, D.C.; for Amici
Curiae Chef Christopher Galarza and Ched Gerard Kenny II.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 7
OPINION
BUMATAY, Circuit Judge:
By completely prohibiting the installation of natural gas
piping within newly constructed buildings, the City of
Berkeley has waded into a domain preempted by Congress.
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (“EPCA”), 42
U.S.C. § 6297(c), expressly preempts State and local
regulations concerning the energy use of many natural gas
appliances, including those used in household and restaurant
kitchens. Instead of directly banning those appliances in
new buildings, Berkeley took a more circuitous route to the
same result. It enacted a building code that prohibits natural
gas piping into those buildings, rendering the gas appliances
useless.
The California Restaurant Association, whose members
include restaurateurs and chefs, challenged Berkeley’s
regulation, raising an EPCA preemption claim. The district
court dismissed the suit. In doing so, it limited the Act’s
preemptive scope to ordinances that facially or directly
regulate covered appliances. But such limits do not appear
in EPCA’s text. By its plain text and structure, EPCA’s
preemption provision encompasses building codes that
regulate natural gas use by covered products. And by
preventing such appliances from using natural gas, the new
Berkeley building code does exactly that.
We thus conclude that EPCA preempts Berkeley’s
building code’s effect against covered products and reverse.
I.
In July 2019, the Council of the City of Berkeley,
California, adopted Ordinance No. 7,672-N.S.—
8 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
“Prohibition of Natural Gas Infrastructure in New
Buildings” (“Ordinance”). As its name implies, the
Ordinance prohibits, with some exceptions, “Natural Gas
Infrastructure” in “Newly Constructed Buildings” in the City
of Berkeley. Berkeley Mun. Code (“BMC”)
§ 12.80.040(A). “Natural Gas Infrastructure” is defined as
“fuel gas piping, other than service pipe, in or in connection
with a building, structure or within the property lines of
premises, extending from the point of delivery at the gas
meter as specified in the California Mechanical Code and
Plumbing Code.” Id. § 12.80.030(E). And “Newly
Constructed Building” refers to “a building that has never
before been used or occupied for any purpose.” Id. §
12.80.030(F). These building codes “apply to Use Permit or
Zoning Certificate applications” submitted after the
Ordinance’s January 1, 2020, effective date. Id.
§§ 12.80.020(A), 12.80.080.
The Ordinance seeks to “eliminate obsolete natural gas
infrastructure and associated greenhouse gas emissions in
new buildings where all-electric infrastructure can be most
practicably integrated, thereby reducing the environmental
and health hazards produced by the consumption and
transportation of natural gas.” Id. § 12.80.010(H). By its
own terms, the Ordinance “shall in no way be construed . . .
as requiring the use or installation of any specific appliance
or system as a condition of approval.” Id. § 12.80.020(C).
The Ordinance also exempts a new construction from its
prohibition if it is in the “public interest” or if it is “not
physically feasible.” Id. §§ 12.80.040(A), 12.80.050.
In November 2019, the Association sued the City of
Berkeley, claiming that EPCA and state law preempted the
Ordinance. After the City moved to dismiss under Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the district court dismissed
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 9
the EPCA claim. It concluded that EPCA must be
“interpreted in a limited manner,” so that the Act doesn’t
“sweep into areas that are historically the province of state
and local regulation.” Cal. Rest. Ass’n v. City of Berkeley,
547 F. Supp. 3d 878, 891 (N.D. Cal. 2021). Because the
Ordinance does “not facially regulate or mandate any
particular type of product or appliance” and because its
impact is “at best indirect[]” on consumer products, the
district court ruled that EPCA does not preempt the
Ordinance. Id. It then declined to exercise supplemental
jurisdiction and dismissed the state-law claims. Id.The Association timely appealed, and we review de
novo. Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inst. v. Energy Res.
Conservation & Dev. Comm’n, 410 F.3d 492, 495 (9th Cir.
2005).
II.
Before jumping to the merits of this case, we must first
assure ourselves of the Association’s Article III standing. To
satisfy associational standing requirements, an organization
must demonstrate that (1) at least one of its members has
suffered an injury in fact that is (a) concrete and
particularized and (b) actual or imminent, rather than
conjectural or hypothetical; (2) the injury is fairly traceable
to the challenged action; and (3) it is likely, not merely
speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable
decision. Nat. Res. Def. Council v. EPA, 735 F.3d 873, 878
(9th Cir. 2013). Berkeley contends that the Association
lacks standing because it failed to establish that the
Ordinance would imminently harm its members. We
disagree.
When “standing is challenged on the basis of the
pleadings,” we must “accept as true all material allegations
10 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
of the complaint” and “construe the complaint in favor of the
complaining party.” Pennell v. City of San Jose, 485 U.S. 1,
7 (1988) (simplified). At this stage, “general factual
allegations of injury resulting from the defendant’s conduct
may suffice, for on a motion to dismiss we presume that
general allegations embrace those specific facts that are
necessary to support the claim.” Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife,
504 U.S. 555, 561 (1992) (simplified).
In its complaint, the Association explains that restaurants
rely on natural gas for preparing certain foods and that many
chefs are trained only on natural gas stoves. The
Association’s members include restaurateurs and chefs who
do business or seek to do business in Berkeley. And the
Association alleges that one or more of its members would
like to open or relocate a restaurant in a new Berkeley
building completed after the Ordinance became effective on
January 1, 2020. But those members could not do so because
of the Ordinance’s ban on natural gas. The City contends
these allegations don’t establish standing because they don’t
allege “how soon” in the future an Association member
would open or relocate a restaurant.
To establish “actual or imminent” injury, the Association
must show a “credible threat that a probabilistic harm will
materialize.” Id. (simplified). The goal of this requirement
is “to ensure that the concept of ‘actual or imminent’ harm
is not stretched beyond its purpose, which is to ensure that
the alleged injury is not too speculative for Article III
purposes.” Id. (simplified). In Natural Resources Defense
Council, we held that it was enough that the government’s
action “increases the threat of future harm to [the
organization’s] members.” Id. In that case, the imminence
prong was satisfied when the Environmental Protection
Agency’s conditional registration of two pesticides would
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 11
“increase[] the odds of exposure” for the organization’s
members’ children. Id.Given our precedent, the Association has easily
established standing. The Association has alleged that its
members would open or relocate a restaurant in a new
building in Berkeley but for the City’s ban on natural gas.
Thus, because of the Ordinance, the Association’s members
cannot open a restaurant in any new Berkeley building and
use natural gas appliances. That poses a “credible threat” of
a “probabilistic harm,” even if the Association hasn’t
provided a date certain for any restaurant’s opening night.
We now turn to the merits of this challenge.
III.
At issue here is the scope of EPCA’s preemption clause.
Berkeley argues that EPCA preemption only covers
regulations that impose standards on the design and
manufacture of appliances, not regulations that impact the
distribution and availability of energy sources like natural
gas. The federal government, as amicus, offers a slightly
different take. It contends that EPCA only preempts “energy
conservation standards” that operate directly on the covered
products themselves. The Association disagrees with both.
It believes that EPCA preemption extends to regulations that
effectively ban covered products from using available
energy sources.
As with any express preemption case, our focus is on the
plain meaning of EPCA. See Puerto Rico v. Franklin Cal.
Tax-Free Tr., 579 U.S. 115, 125 (2016). That’s because “the
plain wording of the clause . . . necessarily contains the best
evidence of Congress’ pre-emptive intent.” Id. In
discerning its meaning, we look to EPCA’s text, structure,
12 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
and context. See R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. County of
Los Angeles, 29 F.4th 542, 552 (9th Cir. 2022). And we
apply this textual analysis “without any presumptive thumb
on the scale” for or against preemption. Id. at 553 n.6.
Based on its text, structure, and context, we conclude
EPCA preempts Berkeley’s Ordinance banning natural gas
piping within new buildings.
A.
EPCA’s preemption clause establishes that, once a
federal energy conservation standard becomes effective for
a covered product, “no State regulation concerning the
energy efficiency, energy use, or water use of such covered
product shall be effective with respect to such product,”
unless the regulation meets one of several categories not
relevant here. 42 U.S.C. § 6297(c). For our purposes, we
need to determine what constitutes a “regulation concerning
the . . . energy use” of a covered product.
First, some definitions. EPCA defines “energy use” as
“the quantity of energy directly consumed by a consumer
product at point of use.” § 6291(4). 1 “[E]nergy” refers to
“electricity” or “fossil fuels,” such as natural gas. § 6291(3).
A “consumer product” is “any article” which “consumes, or
is designed to consume,” energy or water and is distributed
for personal use. § 6291(1). The preemption clause applies
to any “covered product,” which is defined as certain
“consumer products,” like refrigerators, dishwashers, and
1
Unless otherwise indicated, all section (§) citations refer to Title 42 of
the U.S. Code.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 13
kitchen ovens. §§ 6291(2), 6292. 2 And as a matter of
ordinary meaning, “point of use” means the “place where
something is used.” Oxford English Dictionary Online
(2022).
So putting these terms together, EPCA preempts
regulations that relate to “the quantity of [natural gas]
directly consumed by” certain consumer appliances at the
place where those products are used. Right off the bat, we
know that EPCA is concerned with the end-user’s ability to
use installed covered products at their intended final
destinations. After all, a regulation that prohibits consumers
from using appliances necessarily impacts the “quantity of
energy directly consumed by [the appliances] at point of
use.” So, by its plain language, EPCA preempts Berkeley’s
regulation here because it prohibits the installation of
necessary natural gas infrastructure on premises where
covered natural gas appliances are used.
Berkeley’s main contention is that its Ordinance doesn’t
regulate “energy use” because it bans natural gas rather than
prescribes an affirmative “quantity of energy.” While
Berkeley concedes that a prohibition on natural gas
infrastructure reduces the energy consumed by natural gas
appliances in new buildings to “zero,” it argues that “zero”
is not a “quantity” and so the Ordinance is not an “energy
use” regulation. But that defies the ordinary meaning of
“quantity.” In context, “quantity” means “a property or
attribute that can be expressed in numerical terms.” Oxford
2
The preemption clause also applies to “industrial equipment,” which
includes commercial equipment that may be used in restaurants. See
§§ 6311(1), 6316(a).
14 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
English Dictionary Online (2022). And it is well accepted
in ordinary usage that “zero” is a “quantity.” 3
Equally unavailing is Berkeley’s argument that EPCA’s
definition of “energy efficiency” precludes a total
prohibition on natural gas piping from being an “energy use”
regulation. EPCA defines “energy efficiency” as the “ratio
of useful output of services . . . to the energy use” of the
product. § 6291(5). According to Berkeley, “zero” cannot
serve as the “quantity of energy” in “energy use;” otherwise,
the “energy efficiency” ratio would have an impermissible
“zero” denominator. But in that case, both the denominator
(“energy use”) and the numerator (“output”) would be
zero—which simply yields an indeterminate result. 4 And
3
See, e.g., SolarWorld Ams., Inc. v. United States, 962 F.3d 1351, 1359
(Fed. Cir. 2020) (import data recorded “a quantity of zero”); United
States v. Everett, 601 F.3d 484, 493 (6th Cir. 2010) (referring to “zero”
as an “arbitrary quantity of time”); see also 85 Fed. Reg. 22,641(discussing “a quantity of zero blocks” in an auction context). Even
children, bees, and crows apparently understand that “zero” is a
numerical quantity. See Bialystok E. & Codd J., Representing quantity
beyond whole numbers: some, none, and part, 54 Can. J. Experimental
Psych. 117–28 (2000) (showing children aged three to seven could work
with “quantities” including “whole numbers” and “zeros”); see also
Katie Spalding, Crows Once Again Prove Their Intelligence By Showing
That They Understand Zero, IFL Science (June 17, 2021) (citing
evidence that honeybees and crows can “understand zero as a numerical
quantity—as ‘something’ rather than ‘nothing.’”). Same goes for the
scientific community. See, e.g., A.S. Kompaneyets, Theoretical Physics
377 (2d ed. 2013) (“[T]he shift of an energy level is equal to the average
of the perturbation energy for unperturbed motion . . . . But it is easy to
see that the average of this quantity is equal to zero.”).
4
In math, an “indeterminate” expression is “unknown or variable,” “not
definitively or precisely determined.” See Eric Weisstein,
Indeterminate, WOLFRAM MATHWORLD, https://perma.cc/2PD6-5ZZK.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 15
we doubt that Congress meant to hide an exemption to the
plain text of EPCA’s preemption clause in a mathematical
equation.
Thus, a regulation that imposes a total ban on natural gas
is not exempt from EPCA just because it lowers the
“quantity of energy” consumed to “zero.” In other words, a
regulation on “energy use” fairly encompasses an ordinance
that effectively eliminates the “use” of an energy source. As
the Court said long ago, a regulation may “assume the form
of [a] prohibition.” Champion v. Ames, 188 U.S. 321, 328
(1903).
And as a textual matter, EPCA preemption is not limited
to facial regulations of consumer products as the district
court held. Although the district court recognized EPCA’s
“broad” reach, it limited preemption to regulations that
“directly regulate either the energy use or energy efficiency
of covered appliances.” Cal. Rest. Ass’n, 547 F. Supp. 3d at
891. It thus cabined preemption to regulations that “facially
. . . mandate or require a[] particular energy use of a covered
product.” Id. Such a reading is divorced from the statute’s
text. It first ignores that “energy use” is based on
consumption that happens “at point of use.” § 6291(4). This
means that we measure energy use not from where the
products roll off the factory floor, but from where consumers
use the products. Put simply, by enacting EPCA, Congress
ensured that States and localities could not prevent
consumers from using covered products in their homes,
kitchens, and businesses. So EPCA preemption extends to
regulations that address the products themselves and the on-
site infrastructure for their use of natural gas.
To erase any doubt, rather than limit preemption to facial
regulations of products, Congress expressly expanded
16 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
EPCA’s reach to regulations that “concern[]” such products.
§ 6297(c). The Supreme Court has explained that
“‘[c]oncerning’ means ‘relating to,’ and is the equivalent of
‘regarding, respecting, about.’” Lamar, Archer & Cofrin,
LLP v. Appling, 138 S. Ct. 1752, 1759 (2018) (simplified).
In the legal context, this has “a broadening effect, ensuring
that the scope of a provision covers not only its subject but
also matters relating to that subject.” Id. at 1760. We thus
read the term “expansively” and, as a matter of ordinary
meaning, a regulation may “concern” something without
directly regulating that thing. Cf. Morales v. Trans World
Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374, 378–90 (1992) (holding that the
Airline Deregulation Act, which prohibits States from
enforcing any law “relating to rates, routes, or services” of
any air carrier, preempted fare-advertising guidelines that
“would have a significant impact upon” the airlines’ ability
to charge fares). At a minimum then, by using the term
“concerning,” Congress meant to expand preemption
beyond direct or facial regulations of covered appliances.
And a regulation that bans the delivery of natural gas to
products that operate on natural gas “concerns” the energy
use of those products.
And we know that EPCA preemption reaches building
codes. Indeed, a whole subsection of EPCA’s preemption
provision is devoted to “building code requirements.”
§ 6297(f). By its own terms, “a regulation . . . that is
contained in a State or local building code for new
construction concerning the energy efficiency or energy use
of a covered product is not superseded” by EPCA until a
certain effective date or if the code complies with seven
requirements. § 6297(f)(1)–(3) (emphasis added). So
subsection (f) demonstrates that EPCA’s preemptive scope
extends beyond direct or facial regulations of consumer
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 17
products. Otherwise, there would be no need to set an
effective date or create a special carve-out for building
codes, which do not fall into the category of direct
regulations on products. Congress thus indicated that EPCA
preempts building codes, like Berkeley’s ordinance, that
function as “energy use” regulations. Put differently, EPCA
does not permit States and localities to dodge preemption by
hiding “energy use” regulations in building codes.
EPCA’s waiver provision likewise shows the extensive
scope of the preemption clause. EPCA permits the federal
government to waive preemption if a State shows that a
proposed regulation is needed to meet “unusual and
compelling State or local energy[] interests.”
§ 6297(d)(1)(B)–(C). But it stops the federal government
from waiving preemption if the “State regulation will
significantly burden manufacturing, marketing, distribution,
sale, or servicing of the covered product on a national basis.”
§ 6297(d)(3). So the federal government must consider the
complete lifecycle of an appliance—from manufacturing to
servicing—in reviewing a waiver petition. Such a provision
would make little sense if the scope of EPCA’s preemption
ends with the design or manufacture of the product. A
burden on “servicing,” for example, may implicate
regulation of the installation and use of the product—like
Berkeley’s building code. And no doubt Berkeley’s ban, if
adopted by States and localities throughout the country,
would “significantly burden” the “sale” of covered products
“on a national basis.” Id.
B.
The Government offers slightly different textual
arguments. It contends that EPCA only preempts “energy
conservation standards” that operate directly on covered
18 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
products themselves. To justify its position, the Government
first latches onto EPCA’s language stating that a state
regulation concerning the energy use of a covered product is
not “effective with respect to such product.” § 6297(c). The
Government contends that this language limits EPCA’s
preemptive scope to only direct regulations on covered
products. 5
But the Government’s textual analysis is wrong. The
phrase the Government highlights simply limits EPCA’s
preemption to a regulation’s effect on covered products—it
doesn’t say that the regulation must be on the covered
products. To illustrate, think of EPCA’s preemption clause
as a conditional sentence: If a “regulation concern[s] . . .
[the] energy use . . . of [a] covered product,” then it is
preempted “with respect to such product.” The latter clause
doesn’t modify the meaning of the former.
5
We note that the Government’s position hasn’t always been that EPCA
preempts only direct regulations on covered products. When interpreting
the 1978 version of EPCA, the Government concluded that the Act
would preempt regulations of energy infrastructure, like building codes.
The Government warned that “[s]tandards subject to preemption would
include standards for any particular type (or class) of covered products
established by mandatory State or local building codes.” 47 Fed. Reg.
57,198, 57,215 (Dec. 22, 1982) (emphasis added). Even more to the
point, the Government advised that a “[p]rohibition of hook-ups for
appliances with less than a certain efficiency would be subject to
preemption.” Id. So back in 1982, the Government acknowledged that
EPCA would supersede building codes dealing with energy requirements
for “hook-ups for appliances.” And the Government maintained this
position when EPCA’s preemption provision was narrower than today.
See § 6297(a)(2) (1978) (superseding any state regulation that provides
for “any energy efficiency standards or other requirement with respect to
energy efficiency or energy use of a covered product”).
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 19
To put it more concretely: Say a State enacts a broad
regulation on all appliances—some that are “covered” and
some that are not. EPCA would only supersede the
regulation’s impact on the covered products. And the State
could still enforce its regulation against the non-covered
products. In other words, if a building code concerns the
“energy use” of covered and non-covered products alike,
EPCA’s preemptive effect is limited to the covered products.
Here, Berkeley may enforce its building code on non-
covered products, but EPCA displaces its effect on covered
products. 6 But this language in no way narrows a
“regulation concerning the . . . energy use” to direct
regulations on covered products themselves.
The Government next argues that EPCA preemption
only acts on regulations that are the equivalent of “energy
conservation standards.” For this, the Government relies on
the title of EPCA’s preemption provision. Section 6297(c)
is entitled, “General rule of preemption for energy
conservation standards when Federal standard becomes
effective for product.” Based on this heading, the
Government contends that “regulation[s] concerning energy
efficiency [or] energy use” in EPCA’s operative preemption
clause should be construed to mean only state regulations
that function as “energy conservation standards.” But there
are three problems with this argument.
First, § 6297(c)’s heading cannot supersede its plain text.
While the “title of a statute” may help clarify an ambiguous
word or phrase, it “cannot limit the plain meaning of the
6
We thus disagree with the Association’s assertion that EPCA preempts
the Ordinance “as a whole.” Rather, when it comes to the Ordinance’s
effect on non-covered products, EPCA has no impact.
20 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
text.” Pa. Dep’t of Corr. v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 212 (1998)
(simplified). The Government hasn’t identified enough
ambiguity in the preemption clause for the subsection’s title
to provide much interpretive guidance.
Second, Congress gave “energy use,” “energy
efficiency,” and “energy conservation standards” related,
but different, meanings. Recall that “energy use” is defined
as “the quantity of energy directly consumed by a consumer
product at point of use.” § 6291(4). At the same time, EPCA
defines “energy efficiency” as the “ratio of the useful output
of services from a consumer product to the energy use of
such product.” § 6291(5). And finally, an “energy
conservation standard” is generally “a performance standard
which prescribes a minimum level of energy efficiency or a
maximum quantity of energy use.” § 6291(6)(A). So for
EPCA purposes, these terms are closely related, but not
identical.
And third, elsewhere EPCA uses both phrases
together—which shows that they aren’t simply
interchangeable. For example, EPCA allows the federal
government to waive preemption for a regulation “which
provides for any energy conservation standard or other
requirement with respect to energy use, energy efficiency, or
water use.” § 6297(d)(1)(A). If “energy use” means “energy
conservation standards” as the Government argues, this
provision would create redundancy in the statutory text.
Rather, by placing them in a list like this, Congress intended
the phrases to be related, but distinct, concepts.
EPCA’s operative preemptive text is thus not limited to
“energy conservation standards” as the Government would
like us to hold. While EPCA’s preemptive effect is triggered
by federal enactment of an energy “performance standard”
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 21
on a covered product, the statute then broadly preempts any
state regulation concerning “energy use” and “energy
efficiency” of the covered product. §§ 6291(6)(A), 6297(c).
At bottom, the Government argues that we should supplant
“energy use” and “energy efficiency” and replace those
terms with “energy conservation standards.” But we
presume that Congress means what it says, and we can’t
simply reconfigure the statute to fit the Government’s needs.
Indeed, after Congress has taken pains to define each phrase
separately, it would be inappropriate for courts to disregard
these nuances and treat the phrases as interchangeable.
C.
We next address Berkeley’s non-textual arguments.
Berkeley first argues that finding preemption here would
impliedly repeal the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. § 717 et seq.
We disagree. The Natural Gas Act “create[s] a
comprehensive and effective regulatory scheme of dual state
and federal authority” over the wholesale of natural gas. S.
Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. v. FERC, 621 F.3d 1085, 1090
(9th Cir. 2010). It does so by granting the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) “exclusive jurisdiction”
over three areas: the “transportation of natural gas in
interstate commerce,” the “sale in interstate commerce of
natural gas for resale,” and “natural-gas companies engaged
in such transportation or sale.” Id. (quoting 15 U.S.C. §
717(b)). But the Natural Gas Act “specifically exempted
from” FERC regulation “the ‘local distribution of natural
gas.’” Id. (quoting 15 U.S.C. § 717(b)).
By its terms then, the Natural Gas Act only prevents
FERC from regulating the local distribution of gas. So as a
textual matter, the Natural Gas Act’s restriction on FERC
authority doesn’t conflict with Congress, through EPCA,
22 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
deciding to supplant building codes that prevent the
operation of natural gas appliances. Thus, there’s nothing
irreconcilable about the scope of EPCA’s preemption
provision and the Natural Gas Act. We see no implied repeal
problem.
Berkeley finally contends that preemption here would
mean that the City must affirmatively make natural gas
available everywhere. That does not follow from our
decision today. We only hold that EPCA prevents Berkeley
from banning new-building owners from “extending” fuel
gas piping within their buildings “from the point of delivery
at the gas meter.” See BMC § 12.80.030(E). Our holding
doesn’t touch on whether the City has any obligation to
maintain or expand the availability of a utility’s delivery of
gas to meters.
D.
Berkeley and the Government ask us to make
interpretive moves similar to those that the Supreme Court
rejected in Engine Manufacturers Association v. South
Coast Air Quality Management District, 541 U.S. 246, 252
(2004). In that case, our court had interpreted the Clean Air
Act, which prohibits States from enforcing any standard
“relating to the control of emissions from new motor
vehicles,” as not preempting a local ordinance that prevented
fleet operators from purchasing or leasing vehicles that did
not comply with the local emissions standards. Id. at 252.
In short, our court “engraft[ed]” a “limiting component”
onto the statute which narrowed the Clean Air Act’s
preemptive reach to standards on manufacturers, rather than
purchasers. Id. at 253. But the Supreme Court rejected our
approach and emphasized that “[t]he manufacturer’s right to
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 23
sell federally approved vehicles is meaningless in the
absence of a purchaser’s right to buy them.” Id. at 255.
Other Supreme Court cases teach the same lesson. See
Nat’l Meat Ass’n v. Harris, 565 U.S. 452, 458 (2012)
(holding that the Federal Meat Inspection Act, which
prohibits States from imposing requirements “with respect
to [livestock] premises, facilities and operations,” preempted
a California regulation that placed additional requirements
on the sale of meat); Am. Trucking Ass’ns v. City of Los
Angeles, 569 U.S. 641, 652 (2013) (criticizing State efforts
to “avoid preemption by shifting their regulatory focus” to
different companies within the same supply chain because it
did not “make[] any difference” that the State chose “an
indirect but wholly effective means” of achieving a
preempted goal); Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transp.
Ass’n, 552 U.S. 364, 372 (2008) (finding state law that was
“less direct than it might be” nevertheless preempted
because it “produce[d] the very effect that the federal law
sought to avoid”).
As these cases make clear, States and localities can’t
skirt the text of broad preemption provisions by doing
indirectly what Congress says they can’t do directly. EPCA
would no doubt preempt an ordinance that directly prohibits
the use of covered natural gas appliances in new buildings.
So Berkeley can’t evade preemption by merely moving up
one step in the energy chain and banning natural gas piping
within those buildings. Otherwise, the ability to use covered
products is “meaningless” if consumers can’t access the
natural gas available to them within the City of Berkeley.
See Engine Mfrs. Ass’n, 541 U.S. at 255.
24 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
IV.
In sum, Berkeley can’t bypass preemption by banning
natural gas piping within buildings rather than banning
natural gas products themselves. EPCA thus preempts the
Ordinance’s effect on covered products. We therefore
reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this
opinion. On remand, the district court must reinstate the
Association’s state-law claims.
O’SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge, concurring:
I agree that EPCA preempts the Ordinance. But I only
reach that conclusion because, under Ninth Circuit
precedent, I believe I am bound to hold that the presumption
against preemption does not apply to the express-preemption
provision before us today. That conclusion is not obvious or
easy. In my view, this issue presents a challenging question
in a deeply troubled area of law—namely, which of the
apparently conflicting lines of cases we should follow in
applying the presumption against preemption in express-
preemption cases.
At first glance, one might have thought this issue was
already resolved by our decision in Air Conditioning &
Refrigeration Inst. v. Energy Res. Conservation & Dev.
Comm’n, 410 F.3d 492 (9th Cir. 2005). There, like here, we
were called upon to assess a set of express-preemption
provisions in EPCA. Id. at 495 (interpreting 42 U.S.C. §§
6297(a), 6316(a)-(b)). We followed Supreme Court
precedent and applied the Supreme-Court-mandated
“presumption against preemption” to interpret the EPCA
preemption provisions “narrow[ly].” Id. at 496 (applying
Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 485 (1996)). Our
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 25
decision in Air Conditioning was no outlier. The Supreme
Court consistently instructed us to apply the presumption in
express-preemption cases, at least in areas of traditional state
concern—and we consistently followed these instructions.
Sprint Telephony PCS, L.P. v. Cnty. of San Diego, 543 F.3d
571, 578 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc) (confirming Air
Conditioning’s approach).
But things are, unfortunately, not so simple today. In its
recent Franklin decision, the Supreme Court stated that
“because the statute contains an express pre-emption clause,
we do not invoke any presumption against preemption.”
Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Tr., 579 U.S.
115, 125 (2016) (cleaned up). The Court did not mention—
much less expressly overrule—the decades of cases where
the presumption had indeed been applied in like
circumstances. And the Court did not, respectfully, provide
much discussion of its decision not to apply the presumption.
Instead, after the Court stated it would “not invoke” the
presumption, it explained that it would “focus on the plain
wording of the clause,” which is “where the inquiry should
end, for the statute’s language is plain.” Id. (cleaned up).
What to make of Franklin’s “drive-by ruling” is
challenging. Whitman v. United States, 574 U.S. 1003(2014) (Scalia, J., statement respecting denial of certiorari).
We do not assume that the Court has overruled its older
precedents “by implication.” Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S.
203, 237 (1997). And we do not easily assume that the Court
has abrogated our circuit precedents unless the decisions are
“clearly irreconcilable,” particularly where the Supreme
Court decisions we relied on remain on the books. Miller v.
Gammie, 335 F.3d 889, 900 (9th Cir. 2003). Nevertheless,
our circuit—without hesitating to consider Franklin’s limits
or the possibility of reconciling Franklin with existing
26 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
precedent—has broadly read Franklin categorically to
prohibit applying the presumption to express-preemption
provisions in future cases. See, e.g., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Co. v. Cnty. of Los Angeles, 29 F.4th 542, 553 n.6 (9th Cir.
2022). Under these post-Franklin decisions, Air
Conditioning no longer seems to govern here—and the
presumption does not apply.
Respectfully, I have my doubts. As an inferior-court
judge—bound to respect Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit
precedent—I have great difficulty in deciding how to read
the Supreme Court’s instructions here. See, e.g., Air Evac
EMS, Inc. v. Cheatham, 910 F.3d 751, 762 n.1 (4th Cir.
2018) (Wilkinson, J.) (noting the Supreme Court’s
“somewhat varying pronouncements on presumptions in
express preemption cases”). And I am not alone—circuits
are split on this issue. Dialysis Newco, Inc. v. Cmty. Health
Sys. Grp. Health Plan, 938 F.3d 246, 258 (5th Cir. 2019)
(collecting circuit split). While I ultimately conclude that,
under this court’s cases, the presumption does not apply
here, the law remains troubling and confused—beset by
tensions in Supreme Court precedents, disagreement among
the circuits, and important practical questions still
unanswered. I write separately to indicate the need for
further guidance.
I
A
The application of the presumption against preemption
to express-preemption provisions has always raised hard
questions. But at least after the Supreme Court’s decision in
Cipollone, the rule was clear: the presumption applies even
to express-preemption provisions, at least in areas of
traditional state concern. See, e.g., Cipollone v. Liggett Grp.,
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 27
Inc., 505 U.S. 504, 518 (1992); Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485.
Under this framework, we were instructed to interpret
express-preemption provisions “narrow[ly]” in light of “two
presumptions about the nature of preemption.” Medtronic,
518 U.S. at 485. First, “the historic police powers of the
States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless
that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.” Id.(cleaned up). Second, “any understanding of the scope of a
preemption statute must rest primarily on a fair
understanding of congressional purpose,” which is
“primarily” discerned from statutory text but also informed
by “the structure and purpose of the statute as a whole.” Id.(cleaned up).
This approach, to be sure, invited criticism early on. See,
e.g., Cipollone, 505 U.S. at 544–48 (Scalia, J., concurring
and dissenting in part) (explaining that “our job is to interpret
Congress’s decrees of pre-emption neither narrowly nor
broadly, but in accordance with their apparent meaning”);
Caleb Nelson, Preemption, 86 Va. L. Rev. 225, 291 n.205,
292–303 (2000) (arguing that “courts should not give
artificially crabbed constructions to preemption clauses”).
Despite these objections, the Supreme Court continued to
apply the presumption to express-preemption provisions
over the years. See, e.g., Cipollone, 505 U.S. at 518; N.Y.
State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v.
Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U.S. 645, 654 (1995); Medtronic,
518 U.S. at 485; De Buono v. NYSA-ILA Med. & Clinical
Servs. Fund, 520 U.S. 806, 814 (1997); Bates v. Dow
Agrosciences, LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 449 (2005); CTS Corp. v.
Waldburger, 573 U.S. 1, 18–19 (2014); but see Mutual
Pharm. Co. v. Bartlett, 570 U.S. 472 (2013) (applying
preemption but declining to mention the presumption against
preemption). And the inferior courts—duty-bound to follow
28 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
the Supreme Court—continued to apply the presumption as
well. See, e.g., Air Conditioning, 410 F.3d at 496; see also,
e.g., Mass. Ass’n of Health Maint. Orgs. v. Ruthardt, 194
F.3d 176, 179 (1st Cir. 1999) (same); La. Health Serv. &
Indem. Co. v. Rapides Healthcare Sys., 461 F.3d 529, 537
(5th Cir. 2006) (same).
B
Our circuit was no exception. In Air Conditioning—a
case remarkably on point here, at first glance—we followed
the Cipollone-era cases in deciding to interpret a set of
EPCA express-preemption provisions “narrowly.” 410 F.3d
at 497, 501. We first restated the Supreme Court’s approach.
Our interpretation of the preemption provisions was
“informed by two presumptions about the nature of
preemption.” Id. at 496 (citing Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485).
First was “the starting presumption that Congress did not
intend to supplant state law,” at least in an area involving the
“‘historic police powers of the States.’” Id. (quoting
Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485). Second was the principle that
“‘the purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone in every
pre-emption case,’” as revealed “‘not only in the text, but
through [our] reasoned understanding of the way in which
Congress intended the statute and its surrounding regulatory
scheme to affect business, consumers, and the law.’” Id.(quoting Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485–86). We then dutifully
applied this approach—concluding that a narrow reading of
the text, along with a study of the legislative history,
revealed that the preemption provisions were owed a
“narrow” construction. Id. at 497, 501. Because the Air
Conditioning decision faithfully applied Supreme Court
precedent, we confirmed its legal standard in Sprint
Telephony, 543 F.3d at 578 (en banc).
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 29
II
Given this backdrop, one might have thought that the
question whether the presumption against preemption
applies here is an easy one, already resolved by our decision
in Air Conditioning. Because a “narrow” reading is
available, see, e.g., City Br. at 8, one might have assumed
that the presumption against preemption applies, and EPCA
does not preempt the Ordinance. Such an assumption,
though respectable, would be wrong—at least in the Ninth
Circuit. As explained below, the law has grown more
complicated and, might I say, confused since Air
Conditioning was decided. The Supreme Court’s
instructions since Air Conditioning have not proved entirely
consistent with its earlier decisions—and inferior courts
remain divided over what to make of the Court’s decision in
Franklin, which did “not invoke” the presumption but still
declined to overrule decisions where the presumption had
been applied in like circumstances. Franklin, 579 U.S. at
125; see Air Evac, 910 F.3d at 762 n.1 (Wilkinson, J.). In
our court, at least, we have taken a broad view of Franklin,
and the presumption against preemption no longer seems to
apply to express-preemption provisions. See Reynolds, 29
F.4th at 553 n.6. But I suggest the Supreme Court’s
instructions on this point are not so clear, and I would
welcome guidance on whether we have followed those
instructions correctly.
A
The Supreme Court used to tell us that the presumption
against preemption applies to express-preemption provisions
in areas of traditional state concern. But then, in Franklin,
the Supreme Court—tasked to decide whether the
Bankruptcy Act preempted a Puerto Rico debt-collection
30 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
statute—stated that “because the statute contains an express
pre-emption clause, we do not invoke any presumption
against preemption but instead focus on the plain wording of
the clause, which necessarily contains the best evidence of
Congress’ pre-emptive intent.” Franklin, 579 U.S. at 125
(cleaned up). The Court went on to conclude that the statute
was preempted—explaining that “the plain text of the
Bankruptcy Code begins and ends [the] analysis” because
“the statute’s language is plain.” Id. (cleaned up).
In doing so, the Court, I suggest, left much room for
confusion. The Franklin Court did not acknowledge—and,
most importantly, did not expressly overturn—the decades
of decisions applying the presumption against preemption to
express-preemption provisions. And the Franklin Court did
not resolve—nor even discuss—the scope of the rule it was
applying. Was the Franklin Court simply electing to “not
invoke” the presumption in a case easily answered by the
“plain” statutory text? Perhaps Franklin’s rule prohibits the
application of the presumption to all express-preemption
provisions. But perhaps Franklin’s rule also depends on
other considerations—such as whether the statute operates
in an area of traditional state concern, see Bates, LLC, 544
U.S. at 449, or whether the preemption provision is truly in
equipoise, see Shuker v. Smith & Nephew, PLC, 885 F.3d
760, 771 n.9 (3d Cir. 2018); Bates, 544 U.S. at 432(explaining that even if another “plausible alternative”
reading were available, “this Court would have a duty to
accept the reading disfavoring pre-emption”). Perhaps the
Court is moving away from applying preemption with an eye
to the legislative intent and purpose that were so important
during the Cipollone era, and toward an approach centered
on the plain text enacted by Congress. Compare, e.g.,
Franklin, 579 U.S. at 125 (beginning and ending the analysis
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 31
with “plain text”), with Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485, 490–91
(examining the “basic purpose of the legislation as well as
its history”). With respect, Franklin leaves much
unanswered—and I wonder if its “drive-by ruling,” which
appears to “contradict[] the many cases before,” Whitman,
574 U.S. at 1003 (Scalia, J., statement respecting denial of
certiorari), really goes so far as to abrogate the decades of
case law applying the presumption to express-preemption
provisions in so many different statutes.
B
Our court has adopted a broad understanding of the
precedential sweep of Franklin’s passing statement. In
several post-Franklin decisions, we have explained, without
any apparent reservation, that when “‘the statute contains an
express pre-emption clause, we do not invoke any
presumption against pre-emption but instead focus on the
plain wording of the clause, which necessarily contains the
best evidence of Congress’ pre-emptive intent.’” Int’l Bhd.
of Teamsters, Loc. 2785 v. Fed. Motor Carrier Safety
Admin., 986 F.3d 841, 853 (9th Cir. 2021) (quoting Franklin,
579 U.S. at 125) (cleaned up); see also Nat’l R.R. Passenger
Corp. v. Su, 41 F.4th 1147, 1153 n.1 (9th Cir. 2022) (same);
Reynolds, 29 F.4th at 553 n.6 (same); Connell v. Lima Corp.,
988 F.3d 1089, 1097 (9th Cir. 2021) (same); Atay v. Cnty. of
Maui, 842 F.3d 688, 699 (9th Cir. 2016) (same). Our circuit
has also declined to apply the presumption even beyond
Franklin’s immediate context—including in areas of
traditional state concern, see Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, 986
F.3d at 853, and cases involving statutory ambiguity, see
Reynolds, 29 F.4th at 553 n.6. Perhaps that is a plausible
reading of the Supreme Court’s instructions, when all the
Court’s cases are read together. But I have my reservations,
32 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
and I regret that, with due respect for my colleagues, we have
not meaningfully grappled with the issue.
1
First, I am not convinced that we have correctly followed
the Supreme Court’s instructions in this admittedly troubled
area. The Supreme Court is always free, of course, to change
its precedent. But our court does not enjoy such power. As
explained, while Franklin declined to invoke the
presumption, it also declined expressly to mention—much
less to overrule—the many cases where the Court had
repeatedly applied the presumption. I do not read Franklin’s
passing remark as sub silentio overruling the decades of
Supreme Court cases that held—indeed, mandated—that the
presumption applies. And I have real doubts about whether
Franklin abrogated Ninth Circuit precedents that rested on
pre-Franklin Supreme Court decisions. Perhaps Franklin’s
rule could be read modestly and reconciled with some of
those decisions. See Shuker, 885 F.3d at 771 n.9 (giving
Franklin a narrow reading). And perhaps Franklin could be
understood to leave intact circuit precedents that were based
on Supreme Court decisions that Franklin declined directly
to disturb. See, e.g., Air Conditioning, 410 F.3d at 495
(relying on Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485); Golden Gate Rest.
Ass’n v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, 546 F.3d 639, 647
(9th Cir. 2008) (relying on Travelers, 514 U.S. at 661); cf.
Dialysis, 938 F.3d at 259 n. 11 (concluding that Franklin did
not abrogate circuit precedent predicated on Travelers). In
the face of so much law from the Court requiring the
application of the presumption over the years, I would not
rush to read Franklin as categorically establishing that the
presumption is inapplicable to express-preemption
provisions across the board.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 33
2
Second, whatever the extent of Franklin’s reach, I am
concerned that our court has not adequately grappled with
this difficult question. I regret that essentially none of our
decisions relying on Franklin to jettison our pre-Franklin
approach offered any express discussion of the Miller or
Agostini doctrines—ordinarily a requirement for us to act in
the teeth of old precedent. See, e.g., Miller, 335 F.3d at 900(holding that a prior circuit authority is only abrogated where
it is “clearly irreconcilable” with the “reasoning or theory of
intervening higher authority”); Agostini, 521 U.S. at 237(holding that “lower courts should follow the case which
directly controls, leaving to this Court the prerogative of
overruling its own decisions”). Our cases that have
addressed Franklin’s scope and effect have said, with all due
respect, very little—and, with due respect again, nothing that
directly addresses the inquiries Miller and Agostini require
us to conduct. See Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp., 41 F.4th at
1153 n.1; Reynolds, 29 F.4th at 553 n.6; Teamsters, Loc.
2785, 986 F.3d at 853; Atay, 842 F.3d at 699; Connell, 988
F.3d at 1097. Perhaps our court has correctly interpreted the
Supreme Court’s instructions, but the lack of any meaningful
engagement with the question does not inspire confidence.
3
But I do not write on a blank slate. Even though Air
Conditioning applied the presumption to an express-
preemption provision in EPCA, I understand the Ninth
Circuit precedent since Franklin to instruct that the broad
reading of Franklin is now our court’s law—meaning that at
least where, as here, we are tasked to interpret the
preemptive scope of a new express-preemption provision,
the presumption against preemption is inapplicable. See,
34 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
e.g., Reynolds, 29 F.4th at 553 n.6; supra at 31 (collecting
cases establishing this rule). Under this approach, even if
Air Conditioning continues to govern the specific
preemption provisions it was tasked to construe (42 U.S.C.
§§ 6297(a), 6316(a)-(b)), it should not be extended to the
neighboring-but-distinct express-preemption provision we
are required to interpret today (42 U.S.C. § 6297(c))—and
so the presumption does not apply here. Perhaps that is a
puzzling and unsatisfying result. But it is the one that Ninth
Circuit precedent seems to require.
C
One final note. I am not alone in my confusion over how
to interpret the Supreme Court’s instructions. As others have
observed, the Supreme Court’s “somewhat varying
pronouncements on presumptions in express preemption
cases” have caused divisions in the circuits, in what Judge
Wilkinson has described as “the great preemption wars.” Air
Evac, 910 F.3d at 762 n.1 (collecting varying Supreme Court
instructions); see also Dialysis, 938 F.3d at 258 (collecting
circuit split).
There is much confusion over how broadly to read
Franklin’s passing remark—and what to do with the many
cases, unmentioned by Franklin, where the presumption had
applied. Some circuits (including ours) have read Franklin
broadly to prohibit applying the presumption to express-
preemption provisions in future cases. See Atay v. Cnty. of
Maui, 842 F.3d 688, 699 (9th Cir. 2016); Dialysis Newco,
Inc. v. Cmty. Health Sys. Grp. Health Plan, 938 F.3d 246,
259 (5th Cir. 2019); Watson v. Air Methods Corp., 870 F.3d
812, 817 (8th Cir. 2017); EagleMed LLC v. Cox, 868 F.3d
893, 903 (10th Cir. 2017). Other courts, however, are not so
sure—and the Third Circuit, at least, has read Franklin to
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 35
permit applying the presumption where an express-
preemption provision implicates an area of traditional state
concern. See Shuker, 885 F.3d at 771 n.9; cf. Air
Conditioning, 410 F.3d at 496 n.1.
As inferior-court judges, we ultimately must address the
important question about whether Franklin has spoken with
sufficient clarity to abrogate existing Supreme Court and
circuit precedent—or whether Franklin can be reconciled
with at least some of those cases. See, e.g., Miller, 335 F.3d
at 900 (abrogation of circuit precedent); Agostini, 521 U.S.
at 237 (abrogation of Supreme Court precedent); Khan v.
State Oil Co., 93 F.3d 1358, 1363 (7th Cir. 1996) (Posner,
J.). While some circuits have given that issue careful
attention, Dialysis, 938 F.3d at 259 n.11 (declining to
“extend” a pre-Franklin circuit decision that rested on
Travelers, but also declining to “abrogate[]” it), the question
of Franklin’s abrogating reach remains unsettled—with
significant implications for the vast and important areas of
law where Congress has sought to extend federal supremacy.
* * *
We are duty-bound to apply binding precedents of the
Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit. Alas, those precedents
“are not always clear, consistent, or coherent.” Separation of
Church & State Comm. v. City of Eugene of Lane Cnty.,
State of Or., 93 F.3d 617, 627 (9th Cir. 1996) (O’Scannlain,
J., concurring). Here, I believe I am bound by our post-
Franklin precedents to hold that the presumption is
inapplicable to the express-preemption provision before us
today. And for that reason, I join the panel’s opinion. But I
remain concerned that this area of law is troubling and
confused, with tensions in the Supreme Court’s precedents,
splits in the circuits, and important practical questions
36 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
unanswered. Greater clarity and further guidance from the
Court on how to navigate preemption doctrine after Franklin
would be most welcome.
BAKER, Judge, concurring:
I write separately to express my reservations about the
California Restaurant Association’s standing and to explain
my understanding of why the City of Berkeley’s Ordinance
No. 7,672-N.S. (“Ordinance”) invades the core area
preempted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act
(“EPCA”), 42 U.S.C. § 6297(c).
I
To have associational standing, an organization must
establish that:
(a) its members would otherwise have
standing to sue in their own right;
(b) the interests it seeks to protect are
germane to the organization’s purpose;
and
(c) neither the claim asserted nor the relief
requested requires the participation of
individual members in the lawsuit.
Associated Gen. Contractors of Am., San Diego Chapter,
Inc. v. Cal. Dep’t of Transp., 713 F.3d 1187, 1194 (9th Cir.
2013) (“AGC”). The second and third elements of this test
are not in dispute here.
As to the first element, an organization must establish
that “a member suffers an injury-in-fact that is traceable to
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 37
the defendant and likely to be redressed by a favorable
decision.” Id. (citing Braunstein v. Ariz. Dep’t of Transp.,
683 F.3d 1177, 1184 (9th Cir. 2012)). To do so, the
organization must make “specific allegations establishing
that at least one identified member had suffered or would
suffer harm.” Id. (emphasis by the AGC court and quoting
Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 555 U.S. 488, 498 (2009)).
This “requirement of naming the affected members has
never been dispensed with in light of statistical
probabilities.” Id. (quoting Summers, 555 U.S. at 498–99).1
Thus, when an organizational plaintiff asserting
associational standing failed at summary judgment to
“identify any affected members by name” or “submit[ ]
declarations by any of its members attesting to harm they
have suffered or will suffer” from the challenged policy, we
held that the organization could not rely on “the general
allegations in its complaint asserting that its members would
suffer harm” and dismissed the appeal for lack of standing.
AGC, 713 F.3d at 1194–95. 2
Here, the standing allegations in the California
Restaurant Association’s complaint identify no individual
member injured by the challenged Berkeley Ordinance:
1
The only exception to this rule is “where all the members of the
organization are affected by the challenged activity.” Summers, 555 U.S.
at 499 (emphasis in original).
2
In Summers, the organizational plaintiff failed to identify any injured
members at trial. See 555 U.S. at 500 (holding that supplementation of
the district court record to receive affidavits from the organization’s
members was not permitted “in the circumstances here: after the trial is
over, judgment has been entered, and a notice of appeal has been filed”)
(emphasis in original).
38 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
The CRA’s members include both restaurant
owners and chefs. It has members that do
business in Berkeley, California, or who seek
to do business in Berkeley, whose interests
will be directly affected by this Ordinance.
The CRA has one or more members who are
interested in opening a new restaurant or in
relocating a restaurant to a new building in
Berkeley after January 1, 2020, but who
cannot do so because of the Ordinance’s ban
on natural gas. One or more members would
seek to open or relocate a restaurant in a new
building in Berkeley but for the ban on
natural gas. . . .
Under Summers and our decision in AGC, the Association’s
failure to identify any specific member injured by the
Ordinance could be fatal to its standing. See Summers, 555
U.S. at 499 (“In part because of the difficulty of verifying
the facts upon which such probabilistic standing depends,
the Court has required plaintiffs claiming an organizational
standing to identify members who have suffered the requisite
harm . . . .”) (emphasis added). 3
But AGC is not our last word on Summers. More
recently, in National Council of La Raza v. Cegavske—as
3
Relying on circuit precedent, Natural Resources Defense Council v.
EPA, 735 F.3d 873 (9th Cir. 2013), the panel correctly holds that the
Association’s allegations sufficiently allege a “credible threat” of a
“probabilistic harm” for standing purposes at the pleading stage. Opinion
at 10. In that case, which came to us on a petition for review of agency
action, the organizational petitioner identified some of its injured
members by attaching their declarations to its brief. See, e.g., No. 12-
70268, Dkt. No. 18-3.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 39
here, on appeal from dismissal at the pleading stage—we
rejected the argument “that Summers, an environmental case
brought under the National Environmental Policy Act,
stands for the proposition that an injured member of an
organization must always be specifically identified in order
to establish Article III standing for the organization.” 800
F.3d 1032, 1041 (9th Cir. 2015). Instead, we stated that an
organization asserting associational standing need not
identify an injured member “[w]here it is relatively clear,
rather than merely speculative, that one or more members
have been or will be adversely affected by a defendant’s
action, and where the defendant need not know the identity
of a particular member to understand and respond to an
organization’s claim of injury.” Id.I think it is “relatively clear” that at least one of the
Association’s members will be harmed by the challenged
Ordinance, and the City doesn’t need to know the identity of
that member to understand and respond to the Association’s
complaint at the pleading stage. Thus, under Cegavske—
which is in tension with Summers and our decision in AGC—
the Association’s failure to identify in its complaint any
member injured by the Ordinance does not defeat its
standing.
And quite apart from what we said in Cegavske, it’s
unclear whether the requirement that an organizational
plaintiff specifically identify injured members even applies
at the pleading stage. As standing is an “indispensable part
of the plaintiff’s case,” Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S.
555, 561 (1992), it “must be supported in the same way as
any other matter on which the plaintiff bears the burden of
proof, i.e., with the manner and degree of evidence required
at the successive stages of the litigation.” Id.40 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
At the pleading stage, an organizational plaintiff need
only assert “general factual allegations of injury [to its
members] resulting from the defendant’s conduct . . ., for on
a motion to dismiss [a court] presume[s] that general
allegations embrace those specific facts that are necessary
to support the claim.” Id. (cleaned up and emphasis added).
Here, because we presume that they are true, the complaint’s
general factual allegations of injury to the Association’s
members arguably suffice even though those allegations
identify no injured member. 4 But see Draper v. Healey, 827
F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 2016) (Souter, J.) (advocacy group lacked
associational standing at the pleading stage because its
“complaint did not identify any member of the group whom
the regulation prevented from selling or purchasing a
Glock”).
Unlike at the pleading stage, however, at summary
judgment “mere allegations” of injury are not enough, and
an organizational plaintiff “must set forth by affidavit or
other evidence specific facts” substantiating the factual
allegations of injury to its members. Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561
(cleaned up). “And at the final stage, those facts (if
controverted) must be supported adequately by the evidence
adduced at trial.” Id. (cleaned up). Thus, under Summers and
4
AGC appears to imply as much. See 713 F.3d at 1195 (distinguishing
Northeastern Fla. Chptr. of Assoc. Gen. Contractors of Am. v. City of
Jacksonville, 508 U.S. 656, 668–69 (2013), because it involved a verified
complaint’s general allegations of injury to an organization’s members
that “had to [be] “accept[ed] . . . as true” at summary judgment because
they were unchallenged, whereas AGC involved an unverified
complaint’s general allegations of injury disputed at summary judgment)
(emphasis added). Here, even though the Association’s general
allegations of injury are disputed, we must accept them as true because
we are at the pleading stage.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 41
our decision in AGC, at summary judgment or trial an
organizational plaintiff is undoubtedly obligated to identify
one or more of its injured members—among other “specific
facts” detailing the nature of their asserted injury—even if
Lujan dispenses with that requirement at the pleading stage.
II
Justice Scalia famously noted—in context of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA)’s express preemption clause, 5 which employs
broad “related to” language materially similar to EPCA’s, 6
see Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling, 138 S. Ct.
1752, 1759 (2018) (equating “ ‘[c]oncerning’ with ‘relating
to’ ”); Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374,
383 (1992) (defining “related to” as, among others, “to have
bearing or concern”) (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 1158
(5th ed. 1979))—that “applying the ‘relate to’ provision
according to its terms was a project doomed to failure, since,
as many a curbstone philosopher has observed, everything is
related to everything else.” Cal. Div. of Labor Standards
Enf’t v. Dillingham Constr., N.A., Inc., 519 U.S. 316, 335
(1997) (Scalia, J., concurring). Thus, the breadth of EPCA’s
preemption provision, like ERISA’s, “does not mean the sky
is the limit.” Dan’s City Used Cars, Inc. v. Pelkey, 569 U.S.
251, 260 (2013). For that reason, EPCA preemption is
5
ERISA “supersede[s] any and all State laws insofar as they may now
or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan described in section
1003(a) of this title.” 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a).
6
EPCA’s preemption clause provides that after a federal energy
conservation standard applies to a covered product, “no State regulation
concerning the energy efficiency, energy use, or water use of such
covered product shall be effective with respect to such product.” 42
U.S.C. § 6297(c).
42 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
unlikely to reach a host of state and local regulations that
incidentally impact “the quantity of [natural gas] directly
consumed by a [covered] product at point of use.” 42 U.S.C.
§ 6291(4).
For example, nothing in EPCA’s text or structure
suggests any concern with state and local taxes that might
reduce consumption of natural gas. Thus, at least as far as
EPCA is concerned, states and local governments are likely
free to impose carbon taxes designed to discourage such
consumption. Nor is there any indication from its text or
structure that EPCA speaks to the distribution of natural gas.
If a state or local government terminates existing gas utility
service or declines to extend such service, EPCA likely has
no application. 7
But the challenged Ordinance does not implicate a
utility’s distribution of natural gas. Instead, like EPCA, it
assumes that gas service is otherwise available at premises
with products covered by the federal statute. See BMC
§ 12.80.030(E) (defining prohibited “natural gas
infrastructure” as “fuel gas piping, other than service pipe,
in or in connection with a building, structure or within the
property lines of premises, extending from the point of
7
For the same reason, EPCA’s preemption provision—which also
encompasses state and local regulations “concerning the . . . [electricity]
use” and “water use” of “covered product[s],” 42 U.S.C. § 6297(c)—
almost certainly does not affect state or local measures to ration or curtail
the distribution of water due to droughts or electricity due to wildfire risk
or grid limitations. See Brief of Amici Curiae Energy and Environmental
Law Professors in Support of Defendant-Appellee City of Berkely
(Amici Law Professors), at 14, 17 (describing state and local authority to
limit electricity and water distribution for various public purposes). As I
read it, EPCA assumes that energy service or water is otherwise available
to the premises at which a covered product is used.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 43
delivery at the gas meter as specified in the California
Mechanical Code and Plumbing Code”) (emphasis added).
The Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)—the
utility serving Berkeley—explains in a document cited by
the Amici Law Professors that “the service delivery point for
the gas supply is the point where PG&E’s facilities connect
to the applicant’s house pipe (i.e., houseline).” Pacific Gas
& Elec. Co., Electric & Gas Service Requirements (TD-
7001M) 2022–2023, at 2-50 (2022) (“PG&E Manual”). 8
The following diagram “illustrates a typical service delivery
point,” id.:
8
https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/services/building-and
-renovation/greenbook-manual-online/greenbook_manual_full.pdf.
44 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
Id. at 2-6. And to zero in even further, as shown in the side
view of a typical meter below, the service delivery point is
just after the meter:
Id. at 2-51; see also id. at 2-49 (“The [customer’s] houseline
at the service delivery point typically is located after the
PG&E service tee for residential services.”).
PG&E further explains that it “is responsible for
maintaining the system that delivers natural gas, up to and
including the gas meter.” Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., Natural
Gas Customers: Important gas safety information regarding
your pipelines at 1 (2021). 9 PG&E’s customers, on the other
hand, are
responsible for maintaining the [customer]-
installed and owned gas service piping,
valves, automatic shut-off devices (e.g.,
9
https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/your-account/your-bill
/understand-your-bill/bill-inserts/2021/0821-New-Gas-Customer.pdf.
CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY 45
earthquake valves), or other piping
components on any premises or in any
building. These [customer]-owned
components must be installed downstream of
(i.e., after) the gas supply service delivery
point.
PG&E Manual at 2-49. In short, the customer-owned piping
constitutes everything downstream of the service tee fitting
on the utility’s gas meter.
The Berkeley Ordinance—a building code—prohibits
the customer-owned piping that receives gas distributed by
the utility at the meter, and scrupulously avoids touching on
infrastructure owned by the utility, including the meter or the
service pipe connecting the meter to the gas distribution
main. And although EPCA has little, if anything, to say
about a state or local government’s regulation of a utility’s
distribution of natural gas to customers, it has everything to
say about “State or local building code[s] for new
construction concerning the . . . energy use of . . . covered
product[s] . . . .” 42 U.S.C. § 6297(f)(3). “[R]egulation[s] or
other requirement[s]” in such codes are preempted unless
they “compl[y] with all of” various specified conditions. See
id. § 6297(f)(3)(A)–(G). And it’s undisputed the Ordinance
does not do so.
Thus, far from having only “a tenuous, remote, or
peripheral connection,” N.Y. State Conf. of Blue Cross &
Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U.S. 645, 661
(1995), to the subject matter preempted by EPCA, the
Berkeley Ordinance cuts to the heart of what Congress
sought to prevent—state and local manipulation of building
codes for new construction to regulate the natural gas
consumption of covered products when gas service is
46 CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT ASS’N V. CITY OF BERKELEY
otherwise available to premises where such products are
used. And as the panel explains, because EPCA would
unquestionably preempt a building code that prohibited the
attachment of covered appliances to the owner’s piping that
receives gas at the utility’s service delivery point, it
necessarily also preempts a building code that instead bans
that piping to evade preemption. I therefore join the panel
opinion in full.