SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Part B of Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), established an energy conservation program for major household appliances, which includes residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners. (42 U.S.C. 6291 et seq.) This program authorizes the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) to establish energy conservation standards that are technologically feasible and economically justified, and would result in significant energy savings. (42 U.S.C. 6295(o)) Amendments to EPCA in the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 1987 (Pub. L. No. 100-12; NAECA) established prescriptive energy conservation standards for residential clothes dryers, initial energy conservation standards for room air conditioners, as well as requirements for determining whether these standards should be amended. (42 U.S.C. 6295(c) and (g))

The prescriptive standards for residential clothes dryers in EPCA, as amended, required that gas clothes dryers shall not be equipped with a constant burning pilot, and EPCA further required that DOE conduct two cycles of rulemakings to determine if more stringent standards are justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295(g)(3) and (4)) On May 14, 1991, DOE published a final rule in the Federal Register establishing the first set of performance standards for residential clothes dryers; the new standards became effective on May 14, 1994. 56 FR 22250. Subsequently, the Department initiated a second standards rulemaking for residential clothes dryers by publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) in the Federal Register on November 14, 1994. 59 FR 56423. However, pursuant to the priority-setting process outlined in the July 15, 1996, Procedures for Consideration of New or Revised Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Products  ^[1] (the “Process Rule”), DOE classified the standards rulemaking for residential clothes dryers as a low priority for its fiscal year 1998 priority-setting process. As a result, DOE suspended the standards rulemaking for residential clothes dryers.

For room air conditioners, EPCA, as amended, established initial standards, and the statute also directed the Secretary to conduct two cycles of rulemakings to determine if more stringent standards are justified. (42 U.S.C. 6295(c)(1) and (2)) DOE initially analyzed standards for room air conditioners as part of an eight-product standards rulemaking. It issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) on March 4, 1994, which, in part, proposed performance standards for room air conditioners. 59 FR 10464. As a result of the 1996 Process Rule, DOE suspended activities to finalize standards for room air conditioners. DOE subsequently resumed its rulemaking activities and refined its standards analysis of room air conditioners by taking into consideration comments from interested parties and analyzing additional candidate standard levels. On January 29, 1997, the Department published a notice announcing the availability of the supplemental analysis and reopening the record to include additional public comment, and that document also indicated of the standard levels the Department was inclined to promulgate in the final rule. 62 FR 4200. DOE issued a final rule revising the energy conservation standards for room air conditioners on September 24, 1997, with an effective date of October 1, 2000. 62 FR 50122.

To resume the rulemaking process for residential clothes dryers and to begin the required second cycle of the rulemaking process for room air conditioners, the Department prepared a Framework Document to explain the issues, analyses, and process it anticipates using for the development of energy efficiency standards for residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners. The focus of the public meeting will be to discuss the analyses and issues contained in various sections of the Framework Document. During the Department's presentation to stakeholders, the Department will discuss each item listed in the Framework Document as an issue for comment. In addition, the Department will also make a brief presentation on the rulemaking process for these products. The Department encourages those who wish to participate in the public meeting to obtain the Framework Document and to be prepared to discuss its contents. A copy of the Framework Document is available at: www.eere.energy.gov/​buildings/​appliance_​standards/​. However, public meeting participants need not limit their discussions to the topics in the Framework Document. The Department is also interested in receiving views concerning other relevant issues that participants believe would affect energy conservation standards for these products. The Department also invites all interested parties, whether or not they participate in the public meeting, to submit in writing by Wednesday, October 3, 2007, comments and information on the matters addressed in the Framework Document and on other matters relevant to consideration of standards for residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners.

The public meeting will be conducted in an informal, facilitated, conference style. There shall be no discussion of proprietary information, costs or prices, market shares, or other commercial matters regulated by the U.S. antitrust laws. A court reporter will be present to prepare a transcript of the meeting.

After the public meeting and the expiration of the period for submitting written statements, the Department will begin collecting data, conducting the analyses as discussed at the public meeting, and reviewing the comments received.

Anyone who would like to participate in the public meeting, receive meeting materials, or be added to the DOE mailing list to receive future notices and information regarding residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners, should contact Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones at (202) 586-2945.

72 FR 57254