Court slaps down regulations on decorative fireplaces

A federal court on Friday ordered the Obama administration to stop regulating decorative fireplaces as if they are real heating and cooling systems.

The Energy Department attempted to to "circumvent the limits on its authority" with the regulations, according to the decision in favor of the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association and the National Propane Gas Association. 

"[The department] was free to grow its regulatory authority through the statutorily provided for means, but chose instead to push the outermost limits of interpretive credulity," wrote U.S. District Court of Appeals Judge Janice Rogers Brown in the decision.

The Energy Department disagreed with the court's ruling, telling The Hill that the "energy-saving rule only applied to heaters and furnaces and specifically excluded decorative fireplaces."

However, in a 2010 rulemaking, the court said, the Energy Department decided to "abruptly" change its proposal to regulate heaters under the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act, including both decorative fireplaces and heaters under the list of regulated products.

"Because decorative products are designed to stay cool and look pretty — not efficiently convert energy to heat — their manufacturers would most certainly struggle to comply" with the standards, Brown wrote. "Congress had multiple opportunities to amend the legislation and bring decorative fireplaces within the regulatory fold but consistently declined to do so. This was a conscious choice."

Following two lawsuits against the department in 2011 by the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, Brown said the Obama administration then "doubled down" on its expansion of the law.

The Energy Department must now eliminate the definition of a "vented hearth heater" from the rule entirely.

This story was updated on Feb. 11 with comment and clarification from DOE.

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