A group of six liberal environmental groups Monday threatened to sue to the federal Department of Energy for not updating energy usage standards on 26 categories of products.
In a letter to Energy Secretary Dan Brouilette, the National Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity were joined by the Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen and the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants to notify the government of their intent to sue for "violations of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act."
"DOE under the Trump Administration has repeatedly and systemically failed to comply with these basic and important duties," the letter says.
The letter details what the deadlines are for updating the standards for specific categories, with three of them expiring in 2016, including dishwashers and microwave ovens to pool heaters and furnace fans.
"If DOE does not comply with its duty to complete the actions required under EPCA to review and update the standards for these products within sixty days, we intend to bring suit to compel it to do so," the letter adds.
The letter claims the DOE is required to review energy use standards for both every consumer and commercial product covered in the act every six years. If the Department of Energy determines a product does not need to have its standards updated, that decision must be reviewed within three years, the group threatening to sue states.
The group took particular aim at clothes dryers, clothes washers, refrigerators and freezers, and room air-conditioners, saying they "were set based on negotiated levels recommended jointly a decade ago by manufacturers, efficiency and consumer advocates."
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