[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Page 32729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14510]


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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION

[Docket No. CPSC-2006-0057]


Notice of Availability: Plan To Evaluate CO Mitigation 
Requirements for Portable Generators

AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing 
the availability of, and seeking comment on, a document related to 
CPSC's efforts to address carbon monoxide poisoning hazards from 
portable generators, NIST Technical Note 2048, ``Simulation and 
Analysis Plan to Evaluate the Impact of CO Mitigation Requirements for 
Portable Generators.''

DATES: Submit comments by September 9, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-2006-
0057, by any of the following methods:
    Electronic Submissions: Submit electronic comments in the following 
way: Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments. To ensure timely processing of 
comments, please submit all electronic (email) comments through 
www.regulations.gov rather than to CPSC. CPSC encourages you to submit 
electronic comments by using the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as 
described above.
    Written Submissions: Submit written comments in the following way: 
Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk or CD-ROM submissions), 
preferably in five copies, to: Division of the Secretariat, Consumer 
Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway, Bethesda, 
MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted 
without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
identifiers, contact information, or other personal information 
provided. Do not submit confidential business information, trade secret 
information, or other sensitive or protected information that you do 
not want to be available to the public. If furnished at all, such 
information should be submitted by mail/hand delivery/courier.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to: http://www.regulations.gov, insert docket 
number CPSC-2006-0057 into the ``Search'' box, and follow the prompts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet Buyer, Project Manager, 
Directorate for Engineering Sciences, Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850; telephone: 301-987-
2293; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CPSC is engaged in an ongoing effort to 
address carbon monoxide (CO) poisonings of consumers from portable 
generators.\1\ The National Institute of Standards and Technology 
(NIST) and CPSC staff have developed a plan that will enable CPSC staff 
to estimate the effectiveness of CO mitigation requirements that were 
adopted in two voluntary standards in 2018: ANSI/PGMA G300-2018, Safety 
and Performance of Portable Generators (PGMA G300) and ANSI/UL 2201-
2018, Carbon Monoxide (CO) Emission Rate of Portable Generators (UL 
2201). PGMA G300 has requirements for a system that will shut off the 
generator when specific CO concentrations are present near the 
generator, as well as notification requirements to alert the user of 
the presence of CO after the generator has shut off. UL 2201 has 
requirements for a system that will shut off the generator when 
specific CO concentrations are present near the generator and a 
requirement for a reduced CO emission rate.
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    \1\ On November 21, 2016, the Commission published a notice of 
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to address the CO hazard associated with 
portable generators. (Safety Standard for Portable Generators, 81 FR 
83,556).
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    The plan to evaluate the CO mitigation requirements in PGMA G300 
and UL 2201 is presented in NIST Technical Note 2048, ``Simulation and 
Analysis Plan to Evaluate the Impact of CO Mitigation Requirements for 
Portable Generators'' (NIST TN 2048). NIST TN 2048 documents the plan 
for conducting a computer simulation study and for analyzing the 
output. The methodology in NIST TN 2048 is similar to the methodology 
CPSC staff used to evaluate the benefits of the proposed portable 
generator rule the Commission issued in 2016. The simulation study will 
use the same 40 buildings, weather conditions, and generator 
characteristics that were used to evaluate the benefits in the 
Commission's 2016 portable generator proposed rule to study the rate at 
which the CO emitted from the generator accumulates in, transports 
through, and leaves the homes and detached garages for generators with 
and without CO safety shutoff systems. The plan includes more than 900 
scenarios in all the buildings that will require more than a million 
simulations, the output of which will be analyzed to estimate the 
effectiveness of the voluntary standards.
    The Commission seeks public comment on this NIST Technical Note. 
NIST TN 2048 is available on NIST's website at: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2048, and from the Commission's Division of the 
Secretariat, at the location listed in the ADDRESSES section of this 
notice.
    NIST TN 2048 references another NIST report, NIST Technical Note 
2049, ``Carbon Monoxide Concentrations and Carboxyhemoglobin Profiles 
from Portable Generators with a CO Safety Shutoff in a Test House'' 
(NIST TN 2049). NIST TN 2049 documents the results from a series of 
tests and model validation work that NIST performed to develop methods 
that CPSC staff will use in the Simulation Plan. NIST TN 2049 is 
available on NIST's website at: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN 
.2049, and can also be obtained from the Commission's Division of the 
Secretariat.

Alberta E. Mills,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-14510 Filed 7-8-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6355-01-P