SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against two Bay Area cities seeking to end local bans against natural gas infrastructure. The lawsuit, filed Monday in the Northern District of California, accuses the cities of Morgan Hill and Petaluma of driving up energy costs f or consumers and weakening American energy dominance. The lawsuit states, "From the day President Trump took office, his Administration has prioritized cutting energy costs for all Americans, restoring consumer freedom, and unleashing American energy dominance. Sadly standing in the way of that progress, many states and localities have enacted energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security." In 2019, Morgan Hill passed a city ordinance banning natural gas infrastructure in newly constructed buildings. The ordinance requires new residential, commercial, and industrial buildings to be all-electric, the suit claims. In 2021, Petaluma followed suit with a similar ban. The Justice Department argues that the bans hurt American families who rely on gas stoves, furnaces, water heaters, and other appliances every day. Pacific Grove swimmer’s cause of death confirmed as shark attack Attorney General Pamela Bondi said, "These natural gas bans hurt American families and are outright illegal. Alongside the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice is working around the clock to end radical environmentalist policies, restore common sense, and unleash American energy." Gas ban lawsuitDownload The complaint asks the court to declare that the cities’ natural gas bans are preempted by federal law and enter a permanent injunction against their enforcement. Justice Department officials said the lawsuit is part of its battle against state and local "overreach." ...read more read less