An appeals court in California has just struck down the nation's first gas stove ban, in a blow to President Biden's green dream.

A panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that the liberal city of Berkeley illegally preempted federal law when it made gas stoves illegal in 2020.

The city didn't issue the ban directly -- instead, it banned the installation of natural gas piping in new buildings.

Writing for the panel, Trump appointee Patrick Bumatay said that Berkely tried to unlawfully circumvent the Energy and Conservation Act, which gives the federal government authority to issue energy conservation standards on various appliances.

Gas stove ban shut down

Judge Bumatay chastised a lower court for distorting the "plain text and structure" of the Act, which he said preempts "building codes that
regulate natural gas use by covered products."

While Berkeley did not directly ban gas stoves, the city "took a more circuitous route to the same result and enacted a building code that prohibits natural gas piping into those buildings, rendering the gas appliances useless," he wrote.

The case was brought by the California Restaurant Association, which celebrated the ruling.

“Natural gas appliances are crucial for restaurants to operate effectively and efficiently, as they allow for a wide variety of cuisines and innovations in the restaurant industry," the group said.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had dismissed the group's lawsuit, ruling that the city's ordinance had an “at best indirect[]” impact on consumer products, despite the obvious fact it would make gas appliances unusable.

Biden's green revolution

A controversy over gas stoves erupted earlier this year after a Biden-allied bureaucrat in the Consumer Product Safety Commission floated a ban on the common household appliance.

Facing backlash, the White House claimed they had no intention to ban gas stoves, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. The Biden-friendly media also dismissed conservatives who showed concern as paranoid "conspiracy theorists."

But Biden has indeed moved ahead with federal regulations that critics have described as a de facto ban. Biden has pursued a similar indirect strategy to ban gas powered cars.

Under the auspices of "environmental protection," Biden proposes to force automakers to build mostly electric cars within a decade. Biden proposes to do this through draconian fuel emission standards that are actually designed to make electric vehicles the only choice for consumers.

The Supreme Court already pushed back on Biden's green revolution last year, checking his attempts to impose sweeping limits on carbon emissions.