After being told by the courts that its attempts to prohibit the installation of natural gas piping within newly constructed buildings were constitutionally preempted by Federal law, now the City of Berkeley is trying to ban natural gas by taxing it out of existence. Building owners across the country should pay heed as it is apparent that state and local government attempts to ban natural gas, be it by text amendments to building codes, BEPS mandates, or the like, will fail as preempted by Federal law and this transmogrified tactic of taxing fossil fuel out of existence is coming to a jurisdiction where you live or operate a business.