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

18718 

Vol. 77, No. 60 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 

1Under the proposed rule, DOE would require 

Federal fleets to include the alternative fuel 

consumed by exempt vehicles and LSEVs in 

determining compliance with the statutorilyrequired increase in alternative fuel consumption. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 438 

RIN 1904–AB98 

Petroleum Reduction and Alternative 

Fuel Consumption Requirements for 

Federal Fleets 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: On March 12, 2012, the 

Department of Energy (DOE) issued a 

notice of proposed rulemaking to 

implement section 142 of the Energy 

Independence and Security Act of 2007, 

which amended the Energy Policy and 

Conservation Act and directed the 

Secretary of Energy to issue 

implementing regulations for a 

statutorily-required reduction in 

petroleum consumption and increase in 

alternative fuel consumption for Federal 

fleets. With this Request for Information 

(RFI), DOE requests public comment on 

whether the proposed method for 

calculating the fiscal year 2005 

alternative fuel consumption baseline 

should include the alternative fuel 

consumed by exempt vehicles and lowspeed electric vehicles. 

DATES: Public comment on this RFI will 

be accepted until April 27, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 1904–AB98, by any of 

the following methods: 

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

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

instructions for submitting comments. 

2. Email: 

EISA_142_Comments@ee.doe.gov. 

Include RIN 1904–AB98 in the subject 

line of the email. Please include the full 

body of your comments in the text of the 

message or as an attachment. 

3. Mail: Address written comments to 

Cyrus Nasseri, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Federal Energy Management 

Program (EE–2L), 1000 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585. 

Due to potential delays in DOE’s 

receipt and processing of mail sent 

through the U.S. Postal Service, we 

encourage respondents to submit 

comments electronically to ensure 

timely receipt. 

This RFI and any comments that DOE 

receives will be made available on the 

Federal Energy Management Program’s 

Sustainable Federal Fleets Web site at 

https://federalfleets.energy.gov/ 

federal_requirements/notices_rules. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cyrus Nasseri, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Federal Energy Management 

Program (EE–2L), 1000 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, 

email: Cyrus.Nasseri@ee.doe.gov; or 

Michael Jensen, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of the General Counsel 

(GC–71), 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20585, email: 

Michael.Jensen@hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 

12, 2012, the Department of Energy 

(DOE) issued a notice of proposed 

rulemaking to implement section 142 of 

the Energy Independence and Security 

Act of 2007 (EISA, Pub. L. 110–140), 

which amended the Energy Policy and 

Conservation Act of 1975 (Pub. L. 94– 

163) and directed the Secretary of 

Energy to issue implementing 

regulations for a statutorily-required 

reduction in petroleum consumption 

and increase in alternative fuel 

consumption for Federal fleets (77 FR 

14,482 (Mar. 12, 2012)). For additional 

background on, and a discussion of the 

statutory authority for, the proposed 

rule, please refer to the discussion 

contained in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION of the proposed rule. 

Section 142 of EISA provides that not 

later than October 1, 2015, and for each 

year thereafter, Federal fleets ‘‘shall 

achieve at least * * * a 10 percent 

increase in alternative fuel 

consumption, as calculated from the 

baseline established by the Secretary for 

fiscal year [(FY)] 2005.’’ Pursuant to 

section 438.102(b) of the proposed rule, 

the alternative fuel consumption 

baseline values would be the same as 

the values reported for Federal fleets 

through the Federal Automotive 

Statistical Tool Web-based reporting 

system (FAST) for FY 2005. Moreover, 

section 438.102(b) would require 

Federal fleets with extremely low 

alternative fuel use to be subject to a 

proposed minimum alternative fuel 

consumption baseline. The minimum 

baseline would be the greater of (1) the 

amount of alternative fuel consumed by 

that Federal fleet in FY 2005, expressed 

in gallon of gasoline equivalent (GGEs), 

as reflected in FY 2005 FAST data, or 

(2) the lesser of (a) five percent of total 

Federal fleet vehicle fuel (petroleum 

and alternative fuel) consumption and 

(b) 500,000 GGEs. 

DOE notes that the wording of section 

438.102(b) potentially could cause 

confusion as to whether the alternative 

fuel consumed by exempt vehicles and 

low-speed electric vehicles (LSEVs) 

would be required to be included in the 

calculation of the FY 2005 baseline. At 

first glance, the proposed regulatory text 

specifies how to calculate the FY 2005 

baseline for each ‘‘Federal fleet.’’ As 

defined under section 438.2(l), the term 

‘‘Federal fleet’’ as proposed would not 

include exempt vehicles and certain 

types of LSEVs; thus, section 438.102(b) 

would appear to exclude from the 

calculation of the FY 2005 alternative 

fuel consumption baseline the amount 

of alternative fuel consumed by exempt 

vehicles and LSEVs. This approach 

potentially would result in a less 

stringent mandate for increased 

alternative fuel consumption by 

allowing each Federal fleet to account 

for the alternative fuel consumed by two 

categories of motor vehicles in 

determining statutory compliance that 

would not be considered in the 

calculation of the FY 2005 baseline.1

However, section 438.102(b) also 

provides detailed instruction on how to 

calculate the FY 2005 baseline with 

respect to annual ‘‘alternative fuel 

consumption.’’ As defined under 

section 438.2(d), the term ‘‘alternative 

fuel consumption’’ as proposed 

expressly includes the alternative fuel 

consumed in exempt vehicles and 

LSEVs; thus, section 438.102(b) could 

be interpreted to include the amount of 

alternative fuel consumed by exempt 

vehicles and LSEVs in calculating the 

FY 2005 alternative fuel consumption 

baseline. DOE further notes that the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION of the 

proposed rule also suggests that the FY 

2005 alternative fuel consumption 

baseline calculation could include the 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 60 / Wednesday, March 28, 2012 / Proposed Rules 18719 

alternative fuel consumed by exempt 

vehicles and LSEVs. Specifically, the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION provides 

that ‘‘a correction [of the FY 2005 

alternative fuel consumption baseline] 

might be requested in the event that the 

Federal fleet’s alternative fuel use value 

for FY 2005 submitted through FAST 

did not include the electricity used in 

the Federal fleet’s LSEVs.’’ Moreover, 

the alternative fuel consumption 

baseline data set forth in Table III.1 of 

the proposed rule includes the 

alternative fuel consumed by exempt 

vehicles and LSEVs. 

DOE notes that an approach that 

required the inclusion of alternative fuel 

consumed by exempt vehicles and 

LSEVs in the FY 2005 alternative fuel 

baseline would be consistent with the 

existing method for baseline calculation 

under the alternative fuel consumption 

requirements of Executive Order 13423. 

Moreover, such an approach could 

require each Federal fleet to consume 

greater amounts of alternative fuel to 

ensure compliance with the statutorilyrequired increase in alternative fuel 

consumption as compared to an 

approach that did not account for the 

alternative fuel consumed by exempt 

vehicles and LSEVs in its baseline 

calculation. 

With this Request for Information, 

DOE requests public comment on the 

whether the FY 2005 alternative fuel 

consumption baseline should include 

the alternative fuel consumed by 

exempt vehicles and LSEVs. DOE also 

requests comment on other potential 

approaches to complying with the 

statutorily-required increase in 

alternative fuel consumption. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 20, 

2012. 

Timothy D. Unruh, 

Program Manager, Federal Energy 

Management Program. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7436 Filed 3–27–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. FAA–2012–0327; Directorate 

Identifier 2011–NM–125–AD] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing 

Company Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM). 

SUMMARY: We propose to supersede an 

existing airworthiness directive (AD) 

that applies to certain The Boeing 

Company Model DC–10–10, DC–10– 

10F, DC–10–15, DC–10–30, DC–10–30F 

(KC–10A and KDC–10), DC–10–40, DC– 

10–40F, MD–10–10F, and MD–10–30F 

airplanes. The existing AD currently 

requires installing or replacing with 

improved parts, as applicable, the 

bonding straps between the metallic 

frame of the fillet and the wing leading 

edge ribs, on both the left and right 

sides of the airplane. The existing AD 

also requires, for certain airplanes, 

repositioning or replacing two bonding 

straps, doing a bonding-resistance check 

and an inspection to determine correct 

installation of certain bonding straps, 

and applicable corrective actions. Since 

we issued that AD, we have determined 

that additional actions are necessary to 

address the identified unsafe condition. 

This proposed AD would add airplanes 

to the applicability and retain the 

requirements of the existing AD. This 

proposed AD would also require, 

depending on the airplane 

configuration, installing new braided 

bonding straps, inspecting to determine 

if a certain strap is installed and 

replacing with or installing a braided 

bonding strap if necessary, measuring 

the electrical resistance of the bonding 

straps, verifying that brackets have an 

acceptable fillet seal, and corrective 

actions if necessary. We are proposing 

this AD to reduce the potential of 

ignition sources inside fuel tanks in the 

event of a severe lightning strike, which, 

in combination with flammable fuel 

vapors, could result in fuel tank 

explosions and consequent loss of the 

airplane. 

DATES: We must receive comments on 

this proposed AD by May 14, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

using the procedures found in 14 CFR 

11.43 and 11.45, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

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

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: 202–493–2251. 

• Mail: U.S. Department of 

Transportation, Docket Operations, 

M–30, West Building Ground Floor, 

Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery: Deliver to Mail 

address above between 9 a.m. and 

5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

For service information identified in 

this proposed AD, contact Boeing 

Commercial Airplanes, Attention: Data 

& Services Management, 3855 

Lakewood Boulevard, MC D800–0019, 

Long Beach, California 90846–0001; 

telephone 206–544–5000, extension 2; 

fax 206–766–5683; email 

dse.boecom@boeing.com; Internet 

https://www.myboeingfleet. You may 

review copies of the referenced service 

information at the FAA, Transport 

Airplane Directorate, 1601 Lind Avenue 

SW., Renton, Washington. For 

information on the availability of this 

material at the FAA, call 425–227–1221. 

Examining the AD Docket 

You may examine the AD docket on 

the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov; or in person at the 

Docket Management Facility between 

9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. The AD 

docket contains this proposed AD, the 

regulatory evaluation, any comments 

received, and other information. The 

street address for the Docket Office 

(phone: 800–647–5527) is in the 

ADDRESSES section. Comments will be 

available in the AD docket shortly after 

receipt. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Samuel Lee, Aerospace Engineer, 

Propulsion Branch, ANM–140L, FAA, 

Los Angeles Aircraft Certification 

Office, 3960 Paramount Boulevard, 

Lakewood, California 90712–4137; 

phone: 562–627–5262; fax: 562–627– 

5210; email: Samuel.Lee@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comments Invited 

We invite you to send any written 

relevant data, views, or arguments about 

this proposed AD. Send your comments 

to an address listed under the 

ADDRESSES section. Include ‘‘Docket No. 

FAA–2012–0327; Directorate Identifier 

2011–NM–125–AD’’ at the beginning of 

your comments. We specifically invite 

comments on the overall regulatory, 

economic, environmental, and energy 

aspects of this proposed AD. We will 

consider all comments received by the 

closing date and may amend this 

proposed AD because of those 

comments. 

We will post all comments we 

receive, without change, to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information you provide. We 

will also post a report summarizing each 

substantive verbal contact we receive 

about this proposed AD. 

Discussion 

On December 17, 2009, we issued AD 

2009–26–17, Amendment 39–16156 (74 

FR 69268, December 31, 2009), for 

certain Boeing Model DC–10–10, DC– 


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