LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, along with 11 other attorneys general, filed a brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit seeking to protect consumers from the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The case revolves around DOE’s unlawful 2022 regulation called “Energy Conservation Program: Product Classes for Residential Dishwashers, Residential Clothes Washers, and Consumer Clothes Dryers.” The coalition of attorneys general are asking the court to strike down DOE’s 2022 rule that rolls back a Trump administration rule from 2020 that more appropriately governs newer washing machines with shorter wash times and dishwashers with 60-minute or less cycles.
“The Biden Administration continues to creates more red tape and burdensome regulations — this time on appliances in nearly every home,” said Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “This is nothing more than a load of nonsense from the Biden Administration.”
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) allows the DOE to regulate various products’ energy efficiency. The 2020 rules were implemented after consumers complained their appliances ran poorly because of the DOE’s regulations. The machines were running slowly in order to be more “energy efficient.” However, energy was not truly saved as consumers would often have to run their machines twice in order to attain an acceptable cleaning job. Realistically, the purported increase in efficiency was non-existent, and consumers were frustrated. The brief argues that DOE's rule violates the EPCA, is arbitrary and capricious, fails to adequately explain the change in policy, does not sufficiently consider reliance interests, and does not supply enough rationale for the DOE’s refusal to create specific standards for performance classes.
Arkansas is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
About Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
Leslie Carol Rutledge is the 56th Attorney General of Arkansas. Elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn in on January 13, 2015, she is the first woman and first Republican in Arkansas history to be elected as Attorney General. She was resoundingly re-elected on November 6, 2018. Since taking office, she has significantly increased the number of arrests and convictions against online predators who exploit children and con artists who steal taxpayer money through Social Security Disability and Medicaid fraud. Further, she has held Rutledge Roundtable meetings and Mobile Office hours in every county of the State each year, and launched a Military and Veterans Initiative. She has led efforts to roll back government regulations that hurt job creators, fight the opioid epidemic, teach internet safety, combat domestic violence and make the office the top law firm for Arkansans. Rutledge serves on committees for Consumer Protection, Criminal Law and Veterans Affairs for the National Association of Attorneys General. She also served as the former Chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
A native of Batesville, she is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Rutledge clerked for the Arkansas Court of Appeals, was Deputy Counsel for former Governor Mike Huckabee, served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Lonoke County and was an Attorney at the Department of Human Services before serving as Counsel at the Republican National Committee. Rutledge and her husband, Boyce, have one daughter. The family has a home in Pulaski County and a farm in Crittenden County.