This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

10211 

Vol. 86, No. 32 

Friday, February 19, 2021 

1For editorial reasons, upon codification in the 

U.S. Code, Part B was redesignated Part A. 

2All references to EPCA in this document refer 

to the statute as amended through the Energy Act 

of 2020, Public Law 116–260 (Dec. 27, 2020). 

3For editorial reasons, upon codification in the 

U.S. Code, Part C was redesignated Part A–1. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Parts 430 and 431 

[EERE–2020–BT–STD–0004] 

Energy Conservation Program: 

Procedures for Use in New or Revised 

Energy Conservation Standards and 

Test Procedures for Consumer 

Products and Commercial/Industrial 

Equipment; Prioritization Process 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Request for information; request 

for comment concerning prioritization 

of rulemakings. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE or the Department) is 

initiating an effort to elicit information 

from stakeholders and the interested 

public concerning the prioritization of 

rulemakings pursuant to the 

Department’s rulemaking methodology 

titled, ‘‘Procedures, Interpretations, and 

Policies for Consideration of New or 

Revised Energy Conservation Standards 

and Test Procedures for Consumer 

Products and Commercial/Industrial 

Equipment’’ (Process Rule). DOE 

welcomes written comments as well as 

the submission of data and other 

relevant information. 

DATES: Written comments and 

information are requested and will be 

accepted on or before March 11, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

encouraged to submit comments using 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Alternatively, interested persons may 

submit comments, identified by docket 

number EERE–2020–BT–STD–0004, by 

any of the following methods: 

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

2. Email: to 

PrioritySetting2020STD0004@

ee.doe.gov. Include docket number 

EERE–2020–BT–STD–0004 in the 

subject line of the message. 

No telefacsimilies (faxes) will be 

accepted. For detailed instructions on 

submitting comments and additional 

information on this process, see section 

III of this document. 

Docket: The docket for this activity, 

which includes Federal Register 

notices, comments, and other 

supporting documents/materials, is 

available for review at http://

www.regulations.gov. All documents in 

the docket are listed in the http://

www.regulations.gov index. However, 

some documents listed in the index, 

such as those containing information 

that is exempt from public disclosure, 

may not be publicly available. 

The docket web page can be found at: 

http://www.regulations.gov/ 

docket?D=EERE-2020-BT-STD-0004. 

The docket web page contains 

instructions on how to access all 

documents, including public comments, 

in the docket. See section III for 

information on how to submit 

comments through http://

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

John Cymbalsky, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Building 

Technologies Office, EE–5B, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585–0121. Telephone: (202) 287– 

1692. Email: 

ApplianceStandardsQuestions@

ee.doe.gov. 

Ms. Francine Pinto, U.S. Department 

of Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 

GC–33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. 

Telephone: (202) 586–7432. Email: 

Francine.Pinto@hq.doe.gov. 

For further information on how to 

submit a comment or review other 

public comments and the docket, 

contact the Appliance and Equipment 

Standards Program staff at (202) 287– 

1445 or by email: 

ApplianceStandardsQuestions@

ee.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Introduction 

A. Authority 

B. Background on the Process Rule 

II. The Prioritization Process and Request for 

Comments 

A. Description of How To Access the Fall 

2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and 

Deregulatory Actions 

B. Request for Comments 

III. Submission of Comments 

I. Introduction 

A. Authority 

The Department of Energy’s Process 

Rule was developed to guide 

implementation of the Appliance 

Standards Program, which is conducted 

pursuant to Title III, Part B1 of the 

Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as 

amended (EPCA or the Act),2 Public 

Law 94–163 (42 U.S.C. 6291–6309, as 

codified), establishing the Energy 

Conservation Program for Consumer 

Products Other Than Automobiles, 

which sets forth a variety of provisions 

designed to improve energy efficiency. 

In addition, Part C3 of EPCA, Public 

Law 94–163 (42 U.S.C. 6311–6317, as 

codified), added by Public Law 95–619, 

Title IV, section 441(a), established the 

Energy Conservation Program for 

Certain Industrial Equipment, which 

again sets forth a variety of provisions 

designed to improve energy efficiency. 

The energy conservation program 

under EPCA consists essentially of four 

parts: (1) Testing, (2) labeling, (3) 

Federal energy conservation standards, 

and (4) certification and enforcement 

procedures. Relevant provisions of 

EPCA specifically include definitions 

(42 U.S.C. 6291; 42 U.S.C. 6311), test 

procedures (42 U.S.C. 6293; 42 U.S.C. 

6314), labeling provisions (42 U.S.C. 

6294; 42 U.S.C. 6315), energy 

conservation standards (42 U.S.C. 6295; 

42 U.S.C. 6313), and the authority to 

require information and reports from 

manufacturers (42 U.S.C. 6296; 42 

U.S.C. 6316). The statute sets forth the 

criteria, procedures and timeframes 

DOE must follow when establishing 

new or amended energy conservation 

standards for covered products (and at 

least certain types of equipment). The 

statute also sets forth the criteria and 

procedures DOE must follow when 

prescribing or amending test procedures 

for covered products. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS
10212 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

4Section 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. 

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 

4(b) of the Rule as revised, includes an 

opportunity for stakeholders to provide 

input on the prioritization of the 

Department’s 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 DOE’s Process Rule. 

(E.O. 13990, Sec. 2(iii)) 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 4(b) to seek early 

stakeholder feedback. 

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 

stakeholder’s 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 

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 year’s 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 DOE’s portion of the 

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 DOE’s 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 Department’s 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 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Proposed Rules 10213 

matters relevant to DOE’s consideration 

of the priority-setting process for all 

upcoming energy conservation 

standards and test procedure rules. 

Such comments and information will 

aid in the development of the 

rulemaking schedule that will next 

appear in DOE’s Spring Regulatory 

Agenda. 

Submitting comments via http://

www.regulations.gov. The http://

www.regulations.gov web page requires 

you to provide your name and contact 

information. Your contact information 

will be viewable to DOE Building 

Technologies staff only. Your contact 

information will not be publicly 

viewable except for your first and last 

names, organization name (if any), and 

submitter representative name (if any). 

If your comment is not processed 

properly because of technical 

difficulties, DOE will use this 

information to contact you. If DOE 

cannot read your comment due to 

technical difficulties and cannot contact 

you for clarification, DOE may not be 

able to consider your comment. 

However, your contact information 

will be publicly viewable if you include 

it in the comment or in any documents 

attached to your comment. Any 

information that you do not want to be 

publicly viewable should not be 

included in your comment, nor in any 

document attached to your comment. 

Persons viewing comments will see only 

first and last names, organization 

names, correspondence containing 

comments, and any documents 

submitted with the comments. 

Do not submit to http://

www.regulations.gov information for 

which disclosure is restricted by statute, 

such as trade secrets and commercial or 

financial information (hereinafter 

referred to as Confidential Business 

Information (CBI)). Comments 

submitted through http://

www.regulations.gov cannot be claimed 

as CBI. Comments received through the 

website will waive any CBI claims for 

the information submitted. For 

information on submitting CBI, see the 

Confidential Business Information 

section. 

DOE processes submissions made 

through http://www.regulations.gov 

before posting. Normally, comments 

will be posted within a few days of 

being submitted. However, if large 

volumes of comments are being 

processed simultaneously, your 

comment may not be viewable for up to 

several weeks. Please keep the comment 

tracking number that http://

www.regulations.gov provides after you 

have successfully uploaded your 

comment. 

Submitting comments via email. 

Comments and documents submitted 

via email, also will be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. If you do not want 

your personal contact information to be 

publicly viewable, do not include it in 

your comment or any accompanying 

documents. Instead, provide your 

contact information in a cover letter. 

Include your first and last names, email 

address, telephone number, and 

optional mailing address. The cover 

letter will not be publicly viewable as 

long as it does not include any 

comments. 

Include contact information each time 

you submit comments, data, documents, 

and other information to DOE. No 

telefacsimiles (faxes) will be accepted. 

Comments, data, and other 

information submitted to DOE 

electronically should be provided in 

PDF (preferred), Microsoft Word or 

Excel, WordPerfect, or text (ASCII) file 

format. Provide documents that are not 

secured, written in English, and free of 

any defects or viruses. Documents 

should not contain special characters or 

any form of encryption and, if possible, 

they should carry the electronic 

signature of the author. 

Campaign form letters. Please submit 

campaign form letters by the originating 

organization in batches of between 50 to 

500 form letters per PDF or as one form 

letter with a list of supporters’ names 

compiled into one or more PDFs. This 

reduces comment processing and 

posting time. 

Confidential Business Information. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person 

submitting information that he or she 

believes to be confidential and exempt 

by law from public disclosure should 

submit via email, two well-marked 

copies: One copy of the document 

marked ‘‘confidential’’ including all the 

information believed to be confidential, 

and one copy of the document marked 

‘‘non-confidential’’ with the information 

believed to be confidential deleted. 

Submit these documents via email. DOE 

will make its own determination about 

the confidential status of the 

information and treat it according to its 

determination. 

It is DOE’s policy that all comments 

may be included in the public docket, 

without change and as received, 

including any personal information 

provided in the comments (except 

information deemed to be exempt from 

public disclosure). 

DOE considers public participation to 

be a very important part of the process 

for developing test procedures and 

energy conservation standards. 

Interactions with and between members 

of the public provide a balanced 

discussion of the issues and assist DOE 

in the process. Anyone who wishes to 

be added to the DOE mailing list to 

receive future notices and information 

about this process should contact 

Appliance and Equipment Standards 

Program staff at (202) 287–1445 or via 

email at 

ApplianceStandardsQuestions@

ee.doe.gov. 

Signing Authority 

This document of the Department of 

Energy was signed on February 9, 2021, 

Kelly Speakes-Backman, Acting 

Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, pursuant to 

delegated authority from the Acting 

Secretary of Energy. That document 

with the original signature and date is 

maintained by DOE. For administrative 

purposes only, and in compliance with 

requirements of the Office of the Federal 

Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 

Register Liaison Officer has been 

authorized to sign and submit the 

document in electronic format for 

publication, as an official document of 

the Department of Energy. This 

administrative process in no way alters 

the legal effect of this document upon 

publication in the Federal Register. 

Signed in Washington, DC, on February 10, 

2021. 

Treena V. Garrett, 

Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. 

Department of Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03058 Filed 2–18–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

34 CFR Chapter III 

[Docket ID ED–2020–OSERS–0192] 

Proposed Priority—Rehabilitation 

Short-Term Training-Client Assistance 

Program (CAP Training) 

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and 

Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), 

Department of Education. 

ACTION: Proposed priority. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Education 

(Department) proposes a priority under 

the Rehabilitation Short-Term Training 

program, Assistance Listing Number 

84.246K. We may use this priority for 

competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2021 

and later years. We take this action to 

improve the capacity of Client 

Assistance Program (CAP) professionals 

to inform, assist, and advocate for State 

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services 

program clients and applicants about 

expanded education, training, and 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS