Southern California air regulators can move forward with new limits on the sale of certain gas-powered appliances, including water heaters.
Despite pushback from businesses and developers, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling last week upheld restrictions on commercial and industrial gas appliances in four Los Angeles-area counties.
The ruling directly affects roughly 1.3 million water heaters and industrial boilers in L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the Sierra Club, a defendant in the lawsuit. South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted the mandate in 2024, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.
- Noah Rott, a deputy press secretary at the Sierra Club, in a statement: “When fully implemented, the boiler rule will avoid over 2,800 early deaths, 11,800 cases of asthma, and 300,000 lost work and school days, yielding over $95 billion in health benefits.”
The air board earlier this year backed down from extending the restrictions to residences.
Opponents argued that the restrictions violated federal law by banning appliances protected by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, and that the rules would limit consumer choices and raise the cost of appliances.
But the court held the air district had the power to target pollution sources under the Clean Air Act.
- Circuit Judge Lucy Koh, in the majority opinion: “If Congress wanted to interfere with the system of federal-state collaboration set up by the (Clean Air Act), impede upon the EPA’s statutory authority to protect the public’s health and welfare, or restrict states’ ability to comply with federal air quality standards, one would expect Congress to have said so. But Congress said nothing.”
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Other Stories You Should Know
Expanding access to abortion pill
A bill that would expand access to medication abortion for California community college students is facing opposition from health center directors who say they don’t have enough staffing or infrastructure to carry out the proposal.
As Andrea Baltodano of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network explains, following a 2019 state law requiring health centers at the University of California and California State University to provide medication abortion, the Legislature is considering a bill that would mandate the state’s 92 community college campuses with health centers to do the same by 2029.
Besides raising concerns about funding, college health centers say many of them do not prescribe medication, and may not have the clinical capacity to provide medication abortion.
- Michelle Barkley, president of the association and a nurse at Cosumnes River College: “Some of our campuses have 5,000 students. Their health center is run by a single registered nurse.”
Feds buy ICE detention centers
In a deal worth $1.5 billion, two of California’s largest immigration detention facilities have been sold to the federal government, write CalMatters’ Wendy Fry and Nigel Duara.
CoreCivic, a private prison company, sold the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County and the California City Detention Facility in Kern County to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which under the Trump administration is buying up warehouses and detention centers to expand its capacity.
CoreCivic said it expects to continue running both facilities under its contracts, though there’s no guarantee it will keep operating them after the agreements expire.
The Otay Mesa facility attracted scrutiny earlier this year, after county leaders accused the federal government and CoreCivic of blocking health officials from conducting inspections, in violation of a state law. A federal judge later granted officials access to the center.
And lastly: Homelessness down in CA
A federal report published in May found that California’s homeless population fell 2.8% in 2025 — the first decrease in homelessness in years. CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on the latest annual homelessness count, as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.
SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. Fridays on PBS SoCal.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Rules related to recording and storing operational vehicle data underscore the number of potential privacy and governmental regulation issues that come with cars outfitted with electronic platforms.
An effort to close an East Oakland public charter school based on a narrow interpretation of performance data does a disservice to students and families, and weakens California’s promise to build a better education system, writes Jerry Brown, former governor of California.
Other things worth your time:
CA bans ‘sell by’ food labels to cut food waste // AP News
Californians could get $3,500 off a new EV purchase // Los Angeles Times
Inside the secret AI war between Silicon Valley and China // The Washington Post
A powerful heat ridge is building over the West. Here’s when CA feels it // San Francisco Chronicle
The troubling new trend that’s making CA’s forest fires more dangerous // The Mercury News
How Steve Hilton’s wife, Rachel Whetstone, conquered CA // The San Francisco Standard
Short thousands of bilingual teachers, CA schools turn to high school students // EdSource
