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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 150 / Monday, August 9, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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initial determination based upon available evidence that a new or amended energy conservation standard would not meet the applicable statutory criteria, DOE would engage in notice and comment rulemaking before issuing a final determination that new or amended energy conservation standards are not warranted.
A. Authority The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended EPCA,1 among other things, authorizes DOE to regulate the energy efficiency of a number of consumer products and certain industrial equipment. 42 U.S.C. 6291
6317 Title III, Part C 2 of EPCA, added by Public Law 95619, Title IV, section 441a 42 U.S.C. 63116317, as codified, established the Energy Conservation Program for Certain Industrial Equipment, which sets forth a variety of provisions designed to improve energy efficiency. This equipment includes pumps, the subject of this document. 42 U.S.C. 63111A
Under EPCA, DOEs energy conservation program consists essentially of four parts: 1 Testing, 2
labeling, 3 federal energy conservation standards, and 4 certification and enforcement procedures. Relevant provisions of EPCA include definitions 42 U.S.C. 6311, test procedures 42
U.S.C. 6314, labeling provisions 42
U.S.C. 6315, energy conservation standards 42 U.S.C. 6313, and the authority to require information and reports from manufacturers 42 U.S.C.
6316.
Federal energy efficiency requirements for covered equipment established under EPCA generally supersede State laws and regulations concerning energy conservation testing, labeling, and standards. 42 U.S.C.
6316a and b; 42 U.S.C. 6297 DOE
may, however, grant waivers of federal preemption in limited instances for particular state laws or regulations, in accordance with the procedures and other provisions set forth under 42
U.S.C. 6316a applying the preemption waiver provisions of 42 U.S.C. 6297.
DOE must follow specific statutory criteria for prescribing new or amended standards for covered equipment. EPCA
requires that any new or amended energy conservation standard prescribed by the Secretary of Energy Secretary be designed to achieve the maximum improvement in energy or water efficiency that is technologically 1 All references to EPCA in this document refer to the statute as amended through the Energy Act of 2020, Public Law 116260 Dec. 27, 2020.
2 For editorial reasons, upon codification in the U.S. Code, Part C was redesignated Part A1.

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feasible and economically justified. 42
U.S.C. 6316a; 42 U.S.C. 6295o2A.
The Secretary may not prescribe an amended or new standard that will not result in significant conservation of energy, or is not technologically feasible or economically justified. 42 U.S.C.
6316a; 42 U.S.C. 6295o3
EPCA also requires that, not later than 6 years after the issuance of any Final Rule establishing or amending a standard, DOE evaluate the energy conservation standards for each type of covered equipment, including those at issue here, and publish either a notice of determination that the standards do not need to be amended, or a notice of proposed rulemaking NOPR that includes new proposed energy conservation standards proceeding to a Final Rule, as appropriate. 42 U.S.C.
6316a; 42 U.S.C. 6295m1
B. Rulemaking History DOE published a framework document for pumps on January 25, 2013. 78 FR 7304. This document described the procedural and analytical approaches DOE anticipated using to evaluate potential new energy conservation standards for pumps. DOE
solicited comment on this document and invited stakeholders to a public meeting to discuss the document.
A commercial and industrial pumps working group CIP working group was established in 2013 under the Appliance Standards and Rulemaking Advisory Committee ASRAC in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act. 5 U.S.C. App.; 5
U.S.C. 561570. See also 78 FR 44036.
The purpose of the CIP working group was to discuss and, if possible, reach consensus on proposed standards for pump energy efficiency. On June 19, 2014, the CIP working group reached consensus on proposed energy conservation standards for specific rotodynamic, clean water pumps 3 used in a variety of commercial, industrial, agricultural, and municipal applications. The CIP working group assembled their recommendations into a Term Sheet See Docket EERE2013
BTNOC00390092.4
The Term Sheet contained recommendations on the definitions 3 Clean water pumps are designed for pumping water with a maximum non-absorbent free solid content of 0.016 pounds per cubic foot, with a maximum dissolved solid content of 3.1 pounds per cubic foot, provided that the total gas content of the water does not exceed the saturation volume, and disregarding any additives necessary to maintain the water above 14 F.
4 CIP working group Term Sheet, https
www.regulations.gov/document/EERE-2013-BTNOC-0039-0092.

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relevant to all pumps, the scope for commercial and industrial pumps, energy conservation standards for pumps within scope, and the test metric for commercial and industrial pumps.
Consequently, DOE initiated both an energy conservation standards rulemaking and a test procedure rulemaking to implement these recommendations.
On January 26, 2016, DOE published a final rule adopting energy conservation standards for commercial and industrial pumps manufactured on or after January 27, 2020. 81 FR 4368
January 2016 ECS Final Rule. The energy conservation standards established in the January 2016 ECS
Final Rule were consistent with those recommended by the CIP working group and approved by ASRAC. 81 FR 4368, 4375. The current energy conservation standards for pumps are codified at 10
CFR 431.465. Additionally, DOE
established a test procedure for determining pump energy efficiency published in a Final Rule on January 25, 2016. 81 FR 4086 January 2016 TP
Final Rule.5 The current test procedures for pumps are codified at 10
CFR 431.464 and in Appendix A to Subpart Y of 10 CFR part 431
Appendix A.
II. Request for Information DOE is publishing this RFI to collect data and information during the early assessment review process to inform its decision, consistent with its obligations under EPCA, as to whether the Department should proceed with an energy conservation standards rulemaking. Below DOE has identified certain topics for which information and data are requested to assist in the evaluation of the potential for amended energy conservation standards. DOE
also welcomes comments on other issues relevant to its early assessment that may not specifically be identified in this document.
A. Scope and Equipment Classes This RFI covers equipment meeting the pump definition codified in 10 CFR
431.462. Pump means equipment designed to move liquids which may include entrained gases, free solids, and totally dissolved solids by physical or mechanical action and includes a bare pump 6 and, if included by the 5 On March 23, 2016, DOE published a correction to the January 2016 ECS Final Rule to correct the placement of the product-specific enforcement provisions related to pumps under 10 CFR 429.134
at paragraph i. 81 FR 15426.
6 A bare pump is exclusive of mechanical equipment, driver, and controls. See 10 CFR
431.462.

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