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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 7, 2021 / Proposed Rules
requirement for energy conservation standards NOPRs, replacing it with a 60day comment period as required by EPCA. 42 U.S.C. 6295p2; 42 U.S.C.
6316a Although the Department believes that 60 days offers an adequate amount of time for comment in most cases, DOE may extend the comment period, as appropriate and on a case-bycase basis, commensurate with the nature and complexity of the energy conservation standard at issue. While the 2020 Process Rule has not been in effect for long enough to cause these missed deadlines, for the reasons discussed throughout, DOE has tentatively concluded that this proposed change would promote the efficiency of the Appliance Standards Program by streamlining the rulemaking process.
DOE requests comments, information, and data on whether its proposed approach is appropriate or on any other suggested alternatives.
Finally, section 6f4 of the current Process Rule discusses factors to be considered in selecting a proposed standard. These provisions were not modified in the February 2020 Final Rule. DOE proposes to make minor updates to these provisions now in proposed section 6a5iv to reflect current Departmental practice, which has evolved in the decades since development of the 1996 Process Rule.
The descriptions of the analyses currently in sections 1317 present the procedures, interpretations, and policies as set forth in the 1996 Process Rule. In the years following that final rule, DOEs analyses have evolved and been refined. DOE also notes that stakeholders are afforded the opportunity to comment on the specific application of these analyses as part of the individual product and equipment rulemakings. The revisions proposed in the following sections reflect the current state of DOEs analytical methodologies.
Specifically, DOE proposes and seeks public comment on the following proposed revisions:
Impacts on manufacturers: Remove specification of private in relation to manufacturer impacts, change assessment of impacts on plant closures to impacts on employment, and clarify that changes to capital investment may not be negative.
Private impacts on consumers:
Clarify that DOE typically uses regional energy prices rather than national prices and remove reference of sensitivity analyses from this section as they correctly apply to the national impacts section.
Impacts on utilities: Revise to specify that this analysis considers
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utility generation and capacity rather than costs and revenues.
Impacts on the environment:
Remove reference to impacts on pollution control costs, which DOE does not consider.
Additional detail regarding these proposed changes is provided in section III.E of this NOPR.
C. Process for Developing Test Procedures As part of the February 2020 Final Rule, DOE made a number of changes to section 8, Test Procedures, of the Process Rule, some of which have been revisited in the April 2021 NOPR. First, the February 2020 Final Rule amended the Process Rules title to reflect DOEs long practice of including test procedure rulemakings as well as certain commercial/industrial equipment within its scope, as the 1996 Process Rule only explicitly referred to energy conservation standards rulemakings for consumer products. 85 FR 8626, 8703.
Although DOE has proposed in its April 2021 NOPR to once again make the Process Rule nonbinding guidance for the reasons explained in that document, DOE has maintained the applicability of the Process Rule to covered consumer products and certain commercial/
industrial equipment, as well as to energy conservation standards and test procedures. 86 FR 18901, 1890418905, 18915. The February 2020 Final Rule also required DOE to finalize a test procedure 180 days prior to publication of a NOPR to prescribe new or amended energy conservation standards, and it set a presumption that the Department would adopt applicable industry consensus test procedures without modification, unless such industry test procedures do not meet the requirements of EPCA. 85 FR 8626, 86768682, 87078708. However, in the April 2021 NOPR, DOE proposed to revise the Process Rule to eliminate the mandatory 180-day spacing requirement, and the Department also proposed to clarify that DOE will only adopt industry consensus test procedures if they meet the requirements of EPCA and that DOE
may also adopt industry test procedure standards with modifications, or draft its own procedures as necessary to ensure compatibility with the relevant statutory requirements, as well as DOEs compliance, certification, and enforcement requirements. 86 FR 18901, 1890618908, 1891818919.
Although the aforementioned provisions represent the primary changes to the Process Rule test procedure provisions, DOE also adopted a small number of other test procedure-

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related provisions in the February 2020
Final Rule, which are outlined in the paragraphs that follow. The Department has decided to revisit these provisions in this document and proposes further changes, as explained subsequently.
First, in section 8a of the Process Rule, the February 2020 Final Rule included an early assessment process for test procedures similar to that adopted for energy conservation standards. Consequently, DOE
committed to publishing a notice in the Federal Register when it is considering initiation of a rulemaking to amend a test procedure, in which the agency will request submission of comments, data, and information on whether an amended test procedure rule would: 1
More accurately measure energy efficiency, energy use, water use as specified in EPCA, or estimated annual operating cost of a covered product during a representative average use cycle or period of use without being unduly burdensome to conduct; or 2
reduce testing burden. Based upon available information, if DOE
determines that an amended test procedure is not justified at that time, it will publish a notice of proposed determination to that effect in the Federal Register for notice and comment. Otherwise, DOE would undertake the preliminary stages of a rulemaking to amend the test procedure.
85 FR 8626, 87078708.
Upon further consideration, DOE is proposing to modify this provision to allow for a more expedited rulemaking process in appropriate cases, particularly in light of the significant number of legal deadlines confronting the Appliance Standards Program and the anticipated benefits to the Nation of the associated energy conservation standards. Because interested parties are free to raise the matter of the need for an amended test procedure at any preliminary stage of the rulemaking, DOE has tentatively concluded that a separate rulemaking document limited to only that topic i.e., the early assessment RFI unnecessarily delays the overall process without appreciable benefit. Consequently, DOE proposes to remove the requirement for a separate early assessment RFI for test procedures.
Instead, DOE would welcome the same type of information in the context of an RFI, preliminary analysis, ANOPR, or some other pre-NOPR document, while at the same time asking relevant questions and gathering information about other test procedure issues, such as the applicability of any industry test procedure, in the event that the Department decides to proceed with a test procedure rulemaking.

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