The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has announced that it has joined a coalition of organizations in filing a lawsuit against Montgomery County, Maryland, challenging the county\u2019s ban on gas in new construction set to take effect in 2026.<\/p>\n
NFIB is partnering with Washington Gas Light Company, the Restaurant Law Center, the National Association of Homebuilders of the United States, the Maryland Building Industry Association, the Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Laborers\u2019 District Council, and Teamsters Local 96 in this litigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall businesses depend on affordable, reliable energy sources to provide for their customers and serve their communities,\u201d Beth Milito, Executive Director of NFIB\u2019s Small Business Legal Center says. \u201cThe impact of these policies will have far-reaching consequences \u2013 from the small firms constructing new buildings to the small business owners operating out of them in the future. On behalf of Montgomery County\u2019s small business community, NFIB is proud to stand alongside our fellow organizations in challenging this harmful policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuit argues that the gas ban, set to apply to all new construction in Montgomery County, does not align with the needs of small businesses and creates undue pressure on small business owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ban does not represent the needs of Maryland\u2019s small businesses,\u201d said Mike O\u2019Halloran, NFIB Maryland State Director. \u201cMain Street owners are already facing soaring cost pressures and unprecedented uncertainty. They need dependability and options that fit their budget. This ban is one more unnecessary mandate that will ultimately harm the small business community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also claims that the gas ban is preempted by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which ensures that gas appliances across the U.S. are subject to uniform energy use and efficiency standards.<\/p>\n
Image: Envato<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n This article, “NFIB Joins Lawsuit Opposing Gas Ban Impacting Maryland Small Businesses<\/a>” was first published on Small Business Trends<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has announced that it has joined a coalition of organizations in filing a lawsuit against Montgomery County, Maryland, challenging the county\u2019s ban on gas in new construction set to take effect in 2026. NFIB is partnering with Washington Gas Light Company, the Restaurant Law Center, the National Association…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-small-business-news","tag-small-business-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webfreetools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}