- DOJ sues a New Jersey town over its natural gas ban.
- Federal law preempts local bans on gas appliances.
- The lawsuit argues such bans raise consumer costs.
- This follows similar successful federal actions in California.
- The case tests local power versus federal energy authority.
The federal government is drawing a line in the legal sand against local green energy mandates, taking direct aim at a New Jersey township that banned natural gas in new apartment buildings. In a move that signals a broad pushback against municipal climate regulations, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on March 31 against Morris Township, New Jersey, arguing its ordinance is illegal and harms American consumers.
This lawsuit represents the latest front in a growing national conflict between federal energy policy and local environmental ambitions. At stake is the authority of cities and states to dictate the energy sources for new construction, a power the Justice Department contends belongs exclusively to Congress.
The core of the dispute is a 2022 ordinance from Morris Township. The rule mandated that, beginning in September of that year, officials could not issue construction permits for any new apartment buildings with 12 or more units unless they were completely all-electric. The ban explicitly prohibited the use of natural gas, propane, or oil heating systems and the infrastructure to support them.
A conflict of laws
In its complaint, the Justice Department argues this local ban is preempted by federal law, specifically the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. This decades-old statute gives the federal government the authority to set national energy efficiency standards for appliances, a power meant to create uniformity and prevent a patchwork of conflicting state regulations.
The DOJ states the township’s ban “drives up energy costs for everyday American consumers and weakens our Nation’s energy dominance.” The department framed the ordinance as part of “a radical left effort to outlaw federally regulated gas stoves, furnaces, water heaters, dryers, and other appliances that American families rely on daily to cook their meals and heat their homes.”
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson, of the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, stated the administration’s position clearly. “Where the federal government has exclusive authority to regulate appliances and infrastructure, we will fight state and local overreach,” he said. “Banning natural gas is illegal. It makes heating, cooking, drying, and other life functions more unaffordable for consumers.”
Following a legal blueprint
This New Jersey case is not an isolated action. It follows a successful legal template established earlier this year in California. In January, the Justice Department sued the cities of Morgan Hill and Petaluma over their own natural gas bans. As a result of that litigation, both California cities recently passed ordinances rescinding those prohibitions.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi connected the two efforts. “This latest litigation in New Jersey follows two successful lawsuits in California as this Department of Justice fights to make energy more affordable for Americans,” Bondi said. “Radical environmentalist policies that drive up costs and limit consumer choice will not stand.”
The department’s legal argument leans heavily on a 2023 ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down Berkeley, California’s pioneering gas ban. That court found the local regulation was indeed preempted by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The DOJ contends this precedent makes Morris Township’s similar ban “invalid.”
The policy backdrop
The lawsuit also cites an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in April 2025, titled “Protecting American Energy From State Overreach.” The order instructs the Attorney General to take action against state and local laws that burden the development and use of domestic energy resources, arguing they can undermine national security and increase costs for families.
This federal intervention occurs as similar debates flare at the state level. In New Jersey itself, a new bill dubbed the Affordable Home Energy Protection Act was introduced last month. It seeks to explicitly ban state agencies and local governments from adopting rules that prohibit or unduly restrict gas, propane, or fuel oil appliances in buildings.
The legal clash underscores a fundamental tension in American governance and energy policy. For years, municipalities, particularly in progressive-leaning states, have used local zoning and building codes to advance environmental goals, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. The federal government’s response asserts that such well-intentioned local actions collide with established federal law and economic practicality.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the Morris Township ordinance “void and unenforceable.” As this case proceeds, it will test the limits of local autonomy and establish a clearer national precedent on who gets to decide how Americans power their homes. The outcome will resonate far beyond one New Jersey township, shaping the future of building codes and energy choice across the country.
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