ANDY BARR S\XTH 0\STR\Cl. KENTUCKY COMMiTTEE ON FiNANCIAL SERVICES

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The Honorable Steven Chu Secretary ofEnergy U.S. Department ofEnergy 1000 Independence Ave. SW Washington, D.C. 20585 Dear Secretary Chu, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 21, 2013 1.132 LONG-NORTH HoUSE OFFICE Bult

..D!NG**WASHJ:~GTON** DC 20515 (202l 225-4706
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I write to you today onbehalfofmy constituents in Winchester, Kentucky with Osram Sylvania, a manufacturer ofreflector lamps for retail store accent lighting and recessed lighting. As you know, the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of2007 established further energy conservation standards, or lowerwattage requirements, for general service incandescent lamps. In July of2009, the Department ofEnergy (DOE) broadened these standards to include commercial general-service fluorescent lamps and incandescent (and halogen) reflector lamps. The newrules tookeffect onJuly 14, 2012. In the case offluorescent lamps, equivalentperformance products were readily available and met the new standards. However, inthe case of incandescent reflector lamps, only a few equivalent-performanceproducts were readily available that would comply, making compliance with the newregulations costly for manufacturers of these bulbs. The EISA of2007, states that the DOE mustinitiate anothercycle ofrulemakingin 2014 to consider a broader standard for "general service lamps/' which includes compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), general service light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, organic LED (OLEO) lamps, and any other lamps determined to satisfy lighting applications traditionally served by general service incandescent lamps. To this effect, my office has been notified that the DOE and the Navigant consulting company have already begun the process ofdrafting newregulations to place further regulations on this category oflightingproducts. The Winchester, Kentucky Osram Sylvaniafacility recently underwent a majorretooling to bring the facility into compliance with the 2007 requirements for incandescentreflector lamps. Bringing the facility into compliance with even more stringent regulations would require an increased capital outlay that is not readily available to the company. Consequently, further regulations wouldjeopardizethe viability ofthe facility inthe United States, and would most likely lead to a reduction ofAmerican manufacturingjobs.

### The new 2007 requirements, which came into effect in July of2012, raised consumerprices on these products from approximately $4.50 to $8.00. Additional regulations would likely further increase the price to $10- $12, while the return on investment based on energy savings is 8to I0 years. In this economic climate, imposing additional regulations on these businesses would be bad public policy. Osram Sylvania has been proudly manufacturing lighting products for 60 years, and it would be a shame to regulate this plant to the point where it can no longer operate or would have to move its operations out ofthe country. I urge the DOE to considerthe aforementioned consequences when considering further regulations on standard halogenreflector lamps. Ifyou have any questions, please contactmy Senior Legislative Assistant, Tate Bennett, at (202) 225-4706, or email her at Tate.Bennett@mail.house.gov. Thank you for your consideration.