[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 9, 2007)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57254-57255]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-19808]


 ========================================================================
 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.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 194 / Tuesday, October 9, 2007 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[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: [email protected]. 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: 
[email protected].
    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: 
[email protected] or [email protected].
    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: [email protected].

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