[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 191 (Tuesday, October 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60158-60159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21510]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0643; FRL-9128-02-OAR]
Notice of Determination: Petitions Granted Under Subsection (i)
of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to alert the public of the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to grant two petitions
submitted under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020.
The two petitions request that the Environmental Protection Agency
restrict the use of certain regulated substances, as defined in the
Act, in certain commercial refrigeration applications, pursuant to its
authority under the Act to promulgate rules that restrict, fully,
partially, or on a graduated schedule, the use of a regulated substance
in the sector or subsector in which the regulated substance is used.
The Agency is also using this notice to inform the public of how it
will treat two additional submissions by the Air-Conditioning, Heating,
and Refrigeration Institute under this subsection.
DATES: EPA granted the two petitions referenced in this notice via
letters signed on September 19, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allison Cain, Stratospheric Protection
Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs (6205A), Environmental
Protection Agency, telephone number: 202-564-1566; email address:
[email protected]. You may also visit EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction for further information.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Subsection (i) of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of
2020 (AIM Act or the Act),\1\ entitled ``Technology Transitions,''
provides that the Administrator may by rule restrict, fully, partially,
or on a graduated schedule, the use of a regulated substance in the
sector or subsector in which the regulated substance is used. Under
subsection (i)(3) a person may petition the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to promulgate a rule for the restriction on use of a
regulated substance \2\ in a sector or subsector, and the Act states
that the petition shall include a request that the Administrator
negotiate with stakeholders in accordance with subsection (i)(2)(A).
Once EPA receives a petition, the AIM Act directs the Agency to make
petitions publicly available within 30 days of receipt and to grant or
deny the petition within 180 days of receipt, taking the factors listed
in subsection (i)(4) into account to the extent practicable.
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\1\ The AIM Act was enacted as section 103 in Division S,
Innovation for the Environment, of the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260) (codified at 42 U.S.C. 7675).116-260).
\2\ The Act provides that ``regulated substance'' refers to
those substances included in the list of regulated substances in
subsection (c)(1) of the Act and those substances that the
Administrator has designated as a regulated substance under
subsection (c)(3). Subsection (c)(1) lists 18 saturated
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and by reference their isomers not so
listed, as regulated substances. This is the current list of
regulated substances, as no additional substances have been
designated as regulated substances under subsection (c)(3).
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The Agency has received two petitions under subsection (i) of the
AIM Act requesting that EPA promulgate rules to restrict the use of
hydrofluorocarbons in certain commercial refrigeration applications.\3\
These petitions were submitted by the Air-conditioning, Heating, and
Refrigeration Institute, et. al (hereby, ``AHRI'') on March 24, 2022,
and the International Institute for Ammonia Refrigeration, et. al
(hereby, ``IIAR'') on May 23, 2022. After reviewing information
provided by the petitioners and relevant information related to the
``Factors for Determination'' in subsection (i)(4) of the AIM Act, EPA
granted the two petitions.\4\ The March 24, 2022, and May 23, 2022,
petitions requested restrictions on the use of HFCs in sectors and
subsectors that were also the subject of the petitions that EPA granted
on October 7, 2021.
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\3\ Links to copies of these petitions and other petitions
received to date can be found in the table at https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/petitions-under-aim-act. EPA has a docket
(Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0289-0044), where all subsection (i)
petitions are posted, and where the public may submit information
related to those petitions.
\4\ The letters granting the two petitions are available in the
docket for this action.
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EPA is also clarifying the treatment of two letters AHRI sent to
EPA on August 19, 2021, and October 12, 2021.\5\ EPA initially included
these letters on the
[[Page 60159]]
Agency's website as new petitions. However, after further review EPA
determined that these two AHRI letters are addenda to AHRI's petitions
that EPA granted on October 7, 2021. EPA made this determination
because the subsectors listed in these letters were identical to those
covered by the already-granted AHRI petitions and because EPA received
the August and October 2021 letters before or very near in time to the
Agency's action granting the initial set of petitions.
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\5\ EPA has a docket (Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0289-0044),
where all subsection (i) petitions are posted, and where the public
may submit information related to those petitions.
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II. What happens after EPA grants a petition?
Where the Agency grants a petition submitted under subsection (i)
of the AIM Act, the statute requires that EPA promulgate a final rule
not later than two years from the date the Agency grants the petition.
Per subsection (i)(1) of the AIM Act, EPA may issue rules that
restrict, fully, partially, or on a graduated schedule, the use of a
regulated substance in the sector or subsector in which the regulated
substance is used. The Act establishes that no rule developed under
subsection (i) may take effect earlier than one year after the rule
promulgation date. In addition, prior to issuing a proposed rule under
subsection (i), EPA must consider negotiating with stakeholders in the
sector or subsector in accordance with negotiated rulemaking
procedures.\6\ If the Agency decides not to undertake a negotiated
rulemaking, the AIM Act requires the Agency to publish an explanation
of its decision not to use that procedure.
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\6\ The negotiated rulemaking procedure is provided under
subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code (commonly
known as the ``Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990'').
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As noted, all four of the requests for restrictions on the use of
HFCs (i.e., the two petitions granted on September 19, 2022, and the
two letters considered as addenda) addressed sectors and subsectors
that are the subject of an upcoming Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM) that was initiated by the prior petitions granted by the
Administrator on October 7, 2021. In that rulemaking EPA will consider
proposed restrictions in the same sectors and subsectors covered by the
May and March petitions and the two letters considered as addenda. EPA
is therefore considering addressing all four of the newer requests for
restrictions in the same upcoming proposal. EPA issued a notice
informing the public of the Agency's consideration of using the
negotiated rulemaking procedure for the sectors and subsectors
addressed in the petitions granted on October 7, 2021, and the Agency's
decision to not use these procedures.\7\ Because the AIM Act subsection
(i)(2)(A) requires that EPA consider negotiating with stakeholders
using the negotiated rulemaking procedure ``[b]efore proposing a rule
for the use of a regulated substance for a sector or subsector,'' EPA's
prior consideration and decision not to use negotiated rulemaking
applies to the petitions addressed in this notice, which request
restrictions on sectors and subsectors for which EPA already considered
negotiated rulemaking.
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\7\ EPA issued a separate notice in the Federal Register
regarding its consideration of using negotiated rulemaking
procedures for a rulemaking that responds to granted and partially
granted petitions (December 29, 2021; 86 FR 74080).
Cynthia A. Newberg,
Director, Stratospheric Protection Division.
[FR Doc. 2022-21510 Filed 10-3-22; 8:45 am]
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