[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 68 (Friday, April 8, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 20528-20529]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-08120]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

10 CFR Part 431

[Docket Number EERE-2013-BT-TP-0002]
RIN 1904-AC93


Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Commercial 
Clothes Washers; Correction

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Final rule; correcting amendments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) published a final rule in the 
Federal Register on December 3, 2014 revising the test procedure 
provisions for commercial clothes washers. DOE published another final 
rule on December 15, 2014 amending the energy conservation standards 
for commercial clothes washers. This final rule correction amends the 
test procedure provisions for commercial clothes washers to clarify the 
applicability of the revised test procedures to the amended energy 
conservation standards. The correction also removes obsolete regulatory 
provisions.

DATES: This correction is effective April 8, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryan Berringer, U.S. Department of 
Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building 
Technologies Program, EE-5B, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, 
DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-0371. Email: 
[email protected].
    Jennifer Tiedeman, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General 
Counsel, GC-33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-
0121. Telephone: (202) 287-6111. Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Energy conservation standards for commercial 
clothes washers (CCWs) are codified at 10 CFR 431.156. Pursuant to 10 
CFR 431.154, the test procedures for clothes washers at 10 CFR part 
430, subpart B, appendix J1 must be used to test CCWs to determine 
compliance with the current energy conservation standards codified at 
10 CFR 431.156(b).
    DOE published a final rule on March 7, 2012, establishing a new 
test procedure for clothes washers at 10 CFR part 430, subpart B, 
appendix J2. 77 FR 13887.
    DOE published another final rule on December 3, 2014, revising the 
test procedure provisions for CCWs at 10 CFR 431.154 to specify that 
the test procedures for clothes washers at appendix J2 must be used to 
determine compliance with any amended standards for CCWs based on 
appendix J2 efficiency metrics published after December 3, 2014. 79 FR 
71624.
    DOE then published a final rule on December 15, 2014, amending the 
energy conservation standards for CCWs, which are codified at 10 CFR 
431.156(c). 79 FR 74492. These amended standards are based on appendix 
J2 efficiency metrics, and compliance with the amended standards is 
required beginning January 1, 2018.
    This final rule correction (1) removes obsolete CCW standards 
listed at 10 CFR 431.156(a), (2) redesignates paragraphs (b) and (c) of 
10 CFR 431.156 as paragraphs (a) and (b), and (3) amends the CCW test 
procedure provisions at 10

[[Page 20529]]

CFR 431.154 to clarify that the test procedures at appendixes J1 and J2 
must be used to determine compliance with the CCW energy conservation 
standards at redesignated 10 CFR 431.156(a) and (b), respectively.

Procedural Issues and Regulatory Review

    The regulatory reviews conducted for this rulemaking are those set 
forth in the December 3, 2014 final rule that originally codified 
amendments to DOE's test procedures for commercial clothes washers. 79 
FR 71624. The amendments from that final rule became effective January 
2, 2015. Id.
    Pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(b), DOE 
has determined that notice and prior opportunity for comment on this 
rule are unnecessary and contrary to the public interest. The amended 
CCW standards codified at 10 CFR 431.156(c) correspond to the ``amended 
standards based on appendix J2 efficiency metrics published after 
December 3, 2014'' referenced in 10 CFR 431.154. This correction is 
needed to ensure clarity regarding the amended CCW standards for which 
the appendix J2 test procedure must be used. This final rule also 
removes obsolete regulatory provisions.

List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 431

    Administrative practice and procedure, Energy conservation, 
Household appliances.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 28, 2016.
Kathleen Hogan,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, DOE amends part 431 of 
chapter II, subchapter D, of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations, by making the following correcting amendments:

PART 431--ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAM FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL AND 
INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT

0
1. The authority citation for part 431 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  42 U.S.C. 6291-6317.


0
2. Section 431.154 is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  431.154  Test procedures.

    The test procedures for clothes washers in appendix J1 to subpart B 
of part 430 of this chapter must be used to test commercial clothes 
washers to determine compliance with the energy conservation standards 
at Sec.  431.156(a). The test procedures for clothes washers in 
appendix J2 to subpart B of part 430 of this chapter must be used to 
determine compliance with the energy conservation standards at Sec.  
431.156(b).


Sec.  431.156  [Amended]

0
3. Section 431.156 is amended by removing paragraph (a) and 
redesignating paragraphs (b) and (c) as paragraphs (a) and (b), 
respectively.

[FR Doc. 2016-08120 Filed 4-7-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P