Opposition is growing to the Biden administration’s proposed crackdown on dishwashers.
Dozens of consumer groups and home appliance manufacturers have released a storm of criticism of the Biden administration’s proposed regulatory crackdown on dishwashers as homeowners continue to be caught in the crosshairs of what’s being called radical government efforts to change the climate.
Biden administration is also targeting gas stoves but backed off some after a nationwide outcry.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing congressionally mandated standards for new dishwashers. The proposal (pdf), published in the Federal Register, imposes separate new efficiency standards for power and water usage for standard-size and compact dishwashers during their regular cycles. Industry experts say the new standards will make it impossible for dishes to be cleaned properly and leave owners frustrated and angry.
As part of the public comment process on the proposal, the coalition of 19 industry and consumer groups led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) on Tuesday submitted a detailed criticism of the proposal.
The groups urged the Biden administration to withdraw the rule, arguing that existing dishwasher standards are already causing “serious problems” for consumers and that tightening them further would worsen the problems and undercut consumer protections.
“While each of the Biden administration’s recently-proposed appliance measures raises a unique set of risks for consumers, the proposed dishwasher rule at issue here is particularly harmful,” the groups wrote in the submission.
The current energy and water efficiency standards for dishwashers have already caused significant dissatisfaction among consumers due to far longer cycle times, the groups said.
Tightening these measures further by way of the proposed rule would likely worsen the situation but offer minimal additional savings, they argued.
“We believe the proposed rule should be withdrawn and that the Department of Energy (DOE) should shift its focus to addressing the drawbacks caused by its existing dishwasher regulations,” the coalition wrote.
DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the coalition’s criticism of the proposed rule and its request for withdrawal.
“Dishwasher performance would only be made worse by the proposed rule, which ratchets downs further on the energy and water limits that are the acknowledged source of the problems,” the coalition wrote.
Opposition to new dishwasher efficiency standards comes amid the Biden administration’s broader crackdown on home appliances in the name of fighting climate change.
That proposal came several weeks after a commissioner with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Richard Trumka Jr., told Bloomberg that a ban on gas stoves was “on the table.”
–Wire services
