In a court ruling Tuesday, a federal judge for the Northern District of California dismissed the California Restaurant Association’s, or CRA, challenge to the city of Berkeley’s natural gas ban.
The court’s decision comes more than a year after the CRA filed a lawsuit against Berkeley in response to a citywide ordinance prohibiting natural gas infrastructure in new buildings effective Jan. 1, 2020. Berkeley City Council passed the ordinance July 23, 2019, making Berkeley the first city in the United States to pass such a law.
“When we look at our greenhouse gas emissions, we know 27% of the emissions come from natural gas in our buildings,” said Councilmember Kate Harrison, the ordinance’s primary author. “That is an enormously important part of our emission and it’s also something we can do something about as a city.”