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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Proposed Rules
B. Background on the Process Rule On July 15, 1996, DOE published a final rule titled, Procedures, Interpretations and Policies for Consideration of New or Revised Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Products. 61 FR 36974. This document was codified at 10 CFR part 430, subpart C, appendix A, and became known colloquially as the Process Rule. The Process Rule was designed to provide guidance to stakeholders as to how DOE
would implement its rulemaking responsibilities under EPCA for the Appliance Standards Program.
The Department published a revised Process Rule in the Federal Register on February 14, 2020. 85 FR 8626. Section 4b of the Rule as revised, includes an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input on the prioritization of the Departments rulemakings as DOE
prepares its Spring Regulatory Agenda.
Pursuant to Executive Order 13990 of January 20, 2021 E.O. 13990; 86 FR
7038, January 25, 2021, DOE was directed to consider suspending, revising or rescinding certain agency actions, including DOEs Process Rule.
E.O. 13990, Sec. 2iii As directed by E.O. 13990, DOE is in the process of reconsidering the Process Rule but has determined that such reconsideration is not inconsistent with the Process Rule requirement in section 4b to seek early stakeholder feedback.

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II. The Prioritization Process and Request for Comments The revised Process Rule provides that stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide input on the prioritization of rulemakings as DOE
begins its preparation of the Spring Regulatory Agenda. If stakeholders believe that the Department is pursuing a rule that should not be prioritized as active, for example, the stakeholder comments should reflect such an opinion and inform the Department as to how such rule should be prioritized, if at all, with an explanation for the stakeholders recommendation. At the same time, if stakeholders believe that DOE should act more quickly on a particular rulemaking, commenters should make such a point with as much specificity as possible to indicate a revised timeline with an explanation for the recommendation. In addition, if stakeholders believe a rulemaking should be initiated and prioritized that is not already underway, the Department would welcome that feedback.
In making its recommendations, stakeholders can utilize the regulatory text in the revised Process Rule, section
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4, entitled, Setting Priorities for Rulemaking Activity, that sets forth the factors the Department considers in making its priority-setting decisions.4
A. Description of How To Access and Use the Fall 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions As noted in the revised Process Rule, DOE requests that stakeholders use the previous years Fall Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions in this case, the 2020 Fall Agenda as the common frame of reference for stakeholder comments. The 2020 Fall Agenda shows the two basic categories of agency actions: 1 Active rulemakings and 2 long-term actions.
How the rules are ultimately categorized active versus long-term actions in the Unified Agenda depends upon the projection date DOE enters into the Regulatory Information Service Center Office of Management and Budget/Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Consolidated Information System ROCIS for the next action in each timetable associated with a specific rule. Generally speaking, those rules with a next action that is scheduled more than a year away will be categorized as long-term actions;
those rules having a next action within a year are generally categorized as active rules.
The steps to access the active regulatory agenda actions/agency rule list are as follows:
1 Go to www.reginfo.gov.
2 To access the active actions, go to the box titled, Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan, and click on the line item that is titled, The Fall Agenda was published on 12/09/2020.
3 Go to Fall 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions Active Regulatory Actions Listed by Agency.
4 Go to Select Agency and in the dropdown menu select Department of Energy and click Submit. What will appear is the Agency Rule list for DOEs portion of the 4 Section
4 reads as follows:
Setting Priorities for Rulemaking Activity a In establishing its priorities for undertaking energy conservation standards and test procedure rulemakings, DOE will consider the following factors, consistent with applicable legal obligations:
1 Potential energy savings;
2 Potential social and private, including environmental or energy security, benefits;
3 Applicable deadlines for rulemakings;
4 Incremental DOE resources required to complete the rulemaking process;
5 Other relevant regulatory actions affecting the products/equipment;
6 Stakeholder recommendations;
7 Evidence of energy efficiency gains in the market absent new or revised standards;
8 Status of required changes to test procedures;
and 9 Other relevant factors.

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2020 Fall Agenda. This is the list of all DOE
active rulemakings. Rules of the Appliance Standards Program will be included with those DOE rules designated as DOE/EERE.
This agency rule list shows the stage of each rulemaking i.e., pre-rule, notice of proposed rulemaking, or final rule, the title of the rule, and the regulatory identifier number RIN.
You will need to review the list for those rulemakings specific to the Appliance Program.

Once stakeholders have accessed the list of DOE active rulemakings, they can review the information about each rule, including the timetable, that will be displayed. The timetable itself, which is most critical to this priority-setting review, will list all the actions already taken on that particular rule, as well as the next action DOE is planning to take, along with a projected date for that action.
The steps to access the long-term actions information are as follows:
1 Go to www.reginfo.gov.
2 To access the long-term actions, go to the box titled, Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan, and click on the line item that is titled, The Fall Agenda was published on 12/09/2020.
3 Click on the line item, Current Long Term Actions for a list of such actions.
4 Under the title Agenda Agency Regulatory Entries for Long-Term Actions, go to Select Agency and in the drop-down menu select Department of Energy and click Submit. What will appear is the Agency Rule list for DOEs portion of the 2020 Fall Agenda. This is the list of all DOE
long-term actions. You will need to review the list for those rulemakings specific to the Appliance Program.

Once stakeholders have accessed the list of long-term actions, as with the active rulemakings, stakeholders will find information describing each rule, as well as the timetable for that rule.
B. Request for Comments As noted previously, the Department is seeking information that will shed light on how it should best prioritize and sequence its rulemaking activities for the Departments Appliance Standards Program. By this notice, and consistent with the revised Process Rule, DOE requests that stakeholders and the interested public review the timetables for all active and long-term appliance rules and comment upon both the timing and categorization of these rules. The Department is also interested in any other rulemaking activities that DOE should initiate and prioritize in the upcoming Spring Agenda.
III. Submission of Comments DOE invites all interested parties to submit in writing by March 11, 2021, comments and information on matters addressed in this notice and on other
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