[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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