EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of Georgia jobs could be in jeopardy as a result of the Biden administration’s “radical energy decisions,” said a leading manufacturer, who warned of “far-reaching implications” on consumers if an appliance rule moves forward.
Frank Windsor, who said his tankless water heater manufacturing facility is directly at risk under the new rule, told FOX Business that the ban on “very efficient and highly effective technology for water heating” does not align with consumer interests.
“The scary thing is most Americans don’t understand what’s going on with these, I would describe, radical energy decisions that people are making that are going to have far-reaching impacts on consumers,” Windsor, president of Rinnai America Corporation, the leading manufacturer of tankless water heaters in North America, told FOX Business in an interview.
The Department of Energy (DOE), under former President Joe Biden, issued a final rule in December banning non-condensing, natural gas-fired water heaters by 2029.
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Windsor said that the DOE rule, which is currently set to go into effect in March, would not only have a “direct impact” on more than 500 of his company’s team members but also could raise prices for consumers.
“Tankless water heaters are one of the most efficient technologies to generate hot water,” Windsor told Fox. “It’s interesting, in 2014, when I joined the company, gas tankless water heaters were only 7% of the gas water heating market. Today, it’s over 23%.”
Rinnai America Corporation recently invested $70 million in a manufacturing facility in Griffin, Georgia, where “hundreds of people” are working daily to build their tankless water heaters.
Rinnai America filed a lawsuit against the DOE and the Biden administration, led by 21 attorneys general and industry advocacy groups, to push back on its decision. The efforts were recently joined by Republicans in Congress who are also seeking to circumvent the rule.
Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA), first announced by Fox News Digital in January, to overturn the Biden-era rule.
Windsor, speaking with Fox, also urged Congress to pass the CRA, which he said would protect American jobs, protect consumer choice and prevent unnecessary cost hikes for middle-class families.
Rinnai America’s Georgia facility is headquartered in the district of Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., who said the announcement of the green energy rule in the waning days of the Biden administration put “the livelihoods of my constituents in peril during the holiday season.”
“On behalf of my constituents, I am proud to lead the fight in the House of Representatives to disapprove and nullify the Biden Administration’s job-killing regulation imposed on the specific water heaters manufactured in my district,” Jack said in a statement to FOX Business.
“I have visited the facility, I have met with the employees, and I am determined to protect and champion these American manufacturing jobs.”
Windsor said he had received “outstanding” support from both President Donald Trump and DOE Secretary Chris Wright in his effort to overturn the Biden-era ban.
“It’s been really overwhelming, the support that we’ve seen with the new administration, a completely different change of direction than what it was in the past,” Windsor said.
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