AHRI Calls on DOE to Follow Its Own Rules in Rulemaking

In a letter to DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, AHRI chief technical advisor Frank Stanonik decried the agency’s continuing pattern of “violating its own procedures” contained in the Process Rule (10 CFR 430) that is supposed to govern how the department goes about setting and amending regulations. In the letter, Stanonik noted that DOE is in the process of accepting comments on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) for the equipment test procedures. The Process Rule specifically states that “final modified test procedures will be issued prior to the NOPR on proposed standards,” which clearly did not occur in this case.

Stanonik stated that “proceeding with the standard rulemaking prior to finalization of the test procedure creates confusion for stakeholders and an inability to effectively comment on the standard rulemaking.” He asked, “If stakeholders, and DOE, do not know the exact procedure for testing equipment to determine compliance with the standard, how can they adequately comment on and evaluate the impact of the efficiency standard?” He elaborated that the Process Rule was put in place precisely to avoid such confusion.

Calling the decision to proceed with the two rulemakings on a parallel track “arbitrary and capricious,” AHRI called upon DOE to suspend the commercial boiler rulemaking “until the final rule on the revised test procedures for commercial boilers is finalized.” Stanonik pointed out that finishing the test procedure rulemaking should not prevent DOE from meeting its target date for completing the boiler rule.