[Federal Register: October 9, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 194)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 57254-57255]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09oc07-18]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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[[Page 57254]]
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
10 CFR Part 430
[Docket No. EERE-2007-BT-STD-0010]
RIN 1904-AA89
Energy Efficiency Program for Certain Commercial and Industrial
Equipment: Public Meeting and Availability of the Framework Document
for Residential Clothes Dryers and Room Air Conditioners
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting and availability of the Framework
Document.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE or Department) is initiating the
rulemaking and data collection process that could result in the
establishment of amended energy conservation standards for residential
clothes dryers and room air conditioners. Accordingly, the Department
will hold an informal public meeting to discuss and receive comments on
issues it will address in this rulemaking proceeding. The Department
also encourages written comments on these subjects. To inform
stakeholders and facilitate this process, DOE has prepared a Framework
Document, which is available at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/
.
DATES: The Department will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, October
24, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Washington, DC. Any person
requesting to speak at the public meeting should submit such request
along with a signed original and an electronic copy of statements to be
given at the public meeting before 4 p.m., Tuesday, October 17, 2007.
Written comments are welcome, especially following the public meeting,
and should be submitted by Tuesday, November 6, 2007.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Capitol,
located at 550 C Street, SW., in Washington, DC 20024.
Stakeholders may submit comments, identified by docket number EERE-
2007-BT-STD-0010 and/or RIN number 1904-AA89, by any of the following
methods.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: home_appliance2.rulemaking@ee.doe.gov. Include
EERE-2007-BT-STD-0010 and/or RIN 1904-AA89 in the subject line of the
message.
Mail: Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones, U.S. Department of Energy,
Building Technologies Program, Mailstop EE-2J, Framework Document for
Home Appliance Products, EERE-2007-BT-STD-0010 and/or RIN 1904-AA89,
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. Please submit
one signed paper original.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones, U.S.
Department of Energy, Building Technologies Program, Room 1J-018, 1000
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202)
586-2945. Please submit one signed paper original.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number or Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) for this
rulemaking.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents, a
copy of the transcript of the public meeting, or comments received, go
to the U.S. Department of Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 1J-018
(Resource Room of the Building Technologies Program), 1000 Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121, (202) 586-9127, between 9 a.m.
and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Please call
Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones at the above telephone number for additional
information regarding visiting the Resource Room. Please note that the
Department's Freedom of Information Reading Room (Room 1E-190 at the
Forrestal Building) is no longer housing rulemaking materials.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Witkowski, U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building
Technologies, EE-2J, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-7463. E-mail:
Stephen.Witkowski@ee.doe.gov.
Francine Pinto or Eric Stas, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of
the General Counsel, GC-72, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-9507. E-mail:
Francine.Pinto@hq.doe.gov or Eric.Stas@hq.doe.gov.
Regarding the public meeting, Brenda Edwards-Jones, U.S. Department
of Energy, Building Technologies Program, Room 1J-018, 1000
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585. Telephone: (202) 586-
2945. E-mail: Brenda.Edwards-Jones@ee.doe.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part B of Title III of the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), established an energy conservation
program for major household appliances, which includes residential
clothes dryers and room air conditioners. (42 U.S.C. 6291 et seq.) This
program authorizes the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to establish
energy conservation standards that are technologically feasible and
economically justified, and would result in significant energy savings.
(42 U.S.C. 6295(o)) Amendments to EPCA in the National Appliance Energy
Conservation Act of 1987 (Pub. L. No. 100-12; NAECA) established
prescriptive energy conservation standards for residential clothes
dryers, initial energy conservation standards for room air
conditioners, as well as requirements for determining whether these
standards should be amended. (42 U.S.C. 6295(c) and (g))
The prescriptive standards for residential clothes dryers in EPCA,
as amended, required that gas clothes dryers shall not be equipped with
a constant burning pilot, and EPCA further required that DOE conduct
two cycles of rulemakings to determine if more stringent standards are
justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295(g)(3) and (4)) On May 14, 1991, DOE
published a final rule in the Federal Register establishing the first
set of performance standards for residential clothes dryers; the new
standards became effective on May 14, 1994. 56 FR 22250. Subsequently,
the Department initiated a second standards rulemaking for residential
clothes dryers
[[Page 57255]]
by publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) in the
Federal Register on November 14, 1994. 59 FR 56423. However, pursuant
to the priority-setting process outlined in the July 15, 1996,
Procedures for Consideration of New or Revised Energy Conservation
Standards for Consumer Products \1\ (the ``Process Rule''), DOE
classified the standards rulemaking for residential clothes dryers as a
low priority for its fiscal year 1998 priority-setting process. As a
result, DOE suspended the standards rulemaking for residential clothes
dryers.
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\1\ 61 FR 36974 (July 15, 1996) (establishing 10 CFR Part 430,
Subpart C, Appendix A).
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For room air conditioners, EPCA, as amended, established initial
standards, and the statute also directed the Secretary to conduct two
cycles of rulemakings to determine if more stringent standards are
justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295(c)(1) and (2)) DOE initially analyzed
standards for room air conditioners as part of an eight-product
standards rulemaking. It issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR)
on March 4, 1994, which, in part, proposed performance standards for
room air conditioners. 59 FR 10464. As a result of the 1996 Process
Rule, DOE suspended activities to finalize standards for room air
conditioners. DOE subsequently resumed its rulemaking activities and
refined its standards analysis of room air conditioners by taking into
consideration comments from interested parties and analyzing additional
candidate standard levels. On January 29, 1997, the Department
published a notice announcing the availability of the supplemental
analysis and reopening the record to include additional public comment,
and that document also indicated of the standard levels the Department
was inclined to promulgate in the final rule. 62 FR 4200. DOE issued a
final rule revising the energy conservation standards for room air
conditioners on September 24, 1997, with an effective date of October
1, 2000. 62 FR 50122.
To resume the rulemaking process for residential clothes dryers and
to begin the required second cycle of the rulemaking process for room
air conditioners, the Department prepared a Framework Document to
explain the issues, analyses, and process it anticipates using for the
development of energy efficiency standards for residential clothes
dryers and room air conditioners. The focus of the public meeting will
be to discuss the analyses and issues contained in various sections of
the Framework Document. During the Department's presentation to
stakeholders, the Department will discuss each item listed in the
Framework Document as an issue for comment. In addition, the Department
will also make a brief presentation on the rulemaking process for these
products. The Department encourages those who wish to participate in
the public meeting to obtain the Framework Document and to be prepared
to discuss its contents. A copy of the Framework Document is available
at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/.
However, public meeting participants need not limit their discussions
to the topics in the Framework Document. The Department is also
interested in receiving views concerning other relevant issues that
participants believe would affect energy conservation standards for
these products. The Department also invites all interested parties,
whether or not they participate in the public meeting, to submit in
writing by Wednesday, October 3, 2007, comments and information on the
matters addressed in the Framework Document and on other matters
relevant to consideration of standards for residential clothes dryers
and room air conditioners.
The public meeting will be conducted in an informal, facilitated,
conference style. There shall be no discussion of proprietary
information, costs or prices, market shares, or other commercial
matters regulated by the U.S. antitrust laws. A court reporter will be
present to prepare a transcript of the meeting.
After the public meeting and the expiration of the period for
submitting written statements, the Department will begin collecting
data, conducting the analyses as discussed at the public meeting, and
reviewing the comments received.
Anyone who would like to participate in the public meeting, receive
meeting materials, or be added to the DOE mailing list to receive
future notices and information regarding residential clothes dryers and
room air conditioners, should contact Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones at (202)
586-2945.
Issued in Washington, DC, on October 3, 2007.
Alexander A. Karsner,
Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. E7-19808 Filed 10-5-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P