Trump administration blocks California ban on camping propane canisters

But the Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found that California was trying to impose its own requirements on containers that are already regulated by the federal government.

Federal regulations allow manufacturers to make and sell disposable propane cylinders as long as they meet federal safety and manufacturing standards. California’s law would have effectively removed those federally approved cylinders from store shelves in the state because they cannot be refilled.

The Transportation Department concluded that California cannot require propane cylinders to be designed differently from what federal rules allow, finding the state law conflicts with the federal government’s goal of maintaining one set of nationwide standards for transporting hazardous materials.

“Thanks to President Trump, the federal government’s war on fossil fuels is over,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “But California’s radical environmentalists just don’t know when to quit.”

“We’re stopping this nonsense in its tracks so all Americans can enjoy the great outdoors and access the affordable energy they deserve,” Duffy added.

The decision deals a setback to California’s effort to reduce the number of disposable propane cylinders entering landfills and recycling facilities.

Supporters of the California law argue the canisters are more than a waste problem. Even after they appear empty, cylinders can contain leftover propane or pressure and can explode if they are crushed or compacted by garbage trucks or equipment at waste facilities.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office told the federal government that an estimated 3 million to 4 million propane cylinders end up each year in municipal landfills that are not certified to receive hazardous waste. The state argued its law was intended in part to protect workers at waste and recycling facilities.

The federal government and opponents of the California law see the issue differently. They argue that forcing manufacturers and retailers to sell a different type of cylinder in California would create a separate set of rules for one state and could make the products more expensive for consumers.

The dispute reached the Transportation Department after Worthington Enterprises, a major manufacturer of disposable propane cylinders, challenged the California law in August 2025. The company asked the Transportation Department to determine that federal hazardous materials law took precedence over the state’s requirement.

The agency received 17 public comments on the dispute, with nine supporting the challenge to California’s law and eight opposing it.  Supporters of the federal intervention included propane and manufacturing groups, conservation organizations, the attorneys general of Kansas and Ohio, and a machinists union representing workers at a facility that makes disposable cylinders.

Opponents included waste-management and recycling groups and the California attorney general. They argued California was regulating what happens to the cylinders after consumers use them, not how hazardous materials are transported.

They also pointed out that federal regulations already allow refillable propane cylinders. In their view, California was not creating a competing safety standard but simply requiring consumers to buy the reusable version.

The Transportation Department rejected that reasoning. It found that requiring a cylinder to be reusable is itself a design requirement and that California, therefore, could not ban one federally approved design in favor of another.

“Thousands of Americans use these propane cylinders to enjoy our beautiful country when camping,” said Paul Roberti, the head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.  

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“While the state’s radical leadership pushes burdensome regulations that raise prices and stifle consumer choice, the Trump Administration is cutting red tape and protecting American families from pointless laws,” Roberti added.

The ruling prevents California from enforcing the 2028 requirement as written, allowing the disposable propane canisters to remain available for sale in the state.