## Facts

- A national HVAC and water-heating manufacturers’ trade association, joined by local distributors and contractors, challenged the City of Albuquerque’s 2007 Energy Conservation Code and related High-Performance Buildings Ordinance.
- The City adopted the Code as part of an energy-efficiency initiative and applied it to new construction and certain renovations for commercial, multifamily, and one- and two-family residential projects.
- The Code offered multiple compliance routes, including LEED Silver certification, performance-based options (including a 30% improvement over a baseline), and prescriptive options.
- The prescriptive options set minimum efficiency requirements for certain HVAC and water-heating equipment that, in some instances, exceeded federal minimum standards for covered products.
- Plaintiffs alleged the Code and ordinance effectively required higher-than-federal equipment efficiencies or imposed added burdens on using equipment that complied with federal standards.
- Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief and moved for a preliminary injunction to stop enforcement during litigation.
- The dispute turned on federal preemption under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which broadly preempts state and local requirements “concerning” the energy efficiency, energy use, or water use of covered products, subject to a limited building-code exception.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs showed a substantial likelihood of success that challenged portions of the Code and ordinance were expressly preempted by EPCA and not saved by EPCA’s building-code exception.
2. Whether plaintiffs satisfied the remaining preliminary-injunction elements: irreparable harm, balance of harms, and public interest.

## Decision

- The court granted a preliminary injunction barring the City from enforcing the challenged portions of the Code and the associated ordinance while the case proceeded.
- The court found plaintiffs demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on EPCA preemption.
- The court found irreparable harm from imminent compliance pressures and noncompensable losses if enforcement continued.
- The court concluded the balance of equities and public interest favored an injunction because enforcing likely preempted requirements would conflict with federal law and EPCA’s uniformity objectives.

## Legal Principles

- EPCA expressly preempts state and local requirements “concerning” the energy efficiency, energy use, or water use of covered products, and the term “concerning” may reach measures that, in practical effect, burden the use of federally compliant products.
- EPCA’s building-code exception is limited; plaintiffs may show it does not apply where a code’s prescriptive provisions require equipment efficiencies above federal minimum standards.
- A performance-based building-code option may still raise preemption concerns if it effectively penalizes selection of federally compliant (but less efficient) covered products by imposing offsetting design obligations tied to equipment choice.
- Preliminary injunctive relief requires a showing of likely success on the merits, irreparable harm absent relief, a favorable balance of harms, and consistency with the public interest; probable conflict with federal law weighs in favor of injunctive relief.

## Conclusion

The court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of portions of Albuquerque’s energy code and related ordinance because plaintiffs were likely to prove EPCA preemption and showed immediate, noncompensable harm, while federal uniformity interests and the public interest favored stopping enforcement pending a merits ruling.


Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Inst. v. City of Albuquerque, No. CIV 08-0633 JB/WDS, 2008 WL 5586316 (D.N.M. Oct. 3, 2008)