Court overturns Bush air conditioner efficiency standard
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press Writer
January 13, 2004, 7:12 PM EST
WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled the Bush administration was wrong to scrap a Clinton-era efficiency standard for home air conditioners and impose a less stringent one.
The ruling was the second legal setback for the administration on an environmental issue in three weeks. Just before Christmas, another federal court put on hold a program to ease air pollution requirements on industrial and power plants.
The appliance standard issued by the Energy Department in May 2002 would have required manufacturers to increase the minimum energy efficiency of home central air conditioners by 20 percent, beginning in 2006.
It replaced a regulation calling for a 30 percent increase in efficiency that was issued by the department during the final weeks of the Clinton administration.
In its ruling Tuesday, the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled that the so-called SEER-13 standard issued by the Clinton administration was valid and could not legally be reduced, even though the standard had not yet gone into effect.
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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--airconditioners0113jan13,0,1943342.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
hip hip hooray!