Opinion ID: 456159
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statutory Authority for Subtracting Base-Case Savings From Standards Savings

Text: 99 The essence of DOE's position is straightforward: energy savings do not result from standards if the same savings would have been achieved without standards. We think it clear that nothing in the ordinary meaning of the statutory language renders DOE's interpretation unreasonable. Petitioners, however, rely on the legislative history of section 325 for their contrary interpretation. They point out that under EPCA as originally passed, Congress relied mainly on a manufacturer's voluntary compliance with target efficiencies, coupled with a labeling program to encourage informed consumer decisions, in order to increase appliance efficiency. Mandatory standards were authorized only if, after actual experience with these programs, DOE found that they were not likely to be sufficient to achieve the target efficiencies. NECPA, in contrast, called for the immediate issuance of standards in place of the old program, which employed standards only after milder government intervention had failed. According to petitioners, this shift shows that Congress affirmatively rejected further experimentation with the chance that in the absence of mandatory standards, appliance efficiency would nonetheless improve. 29 On this theory, DOE was no longer to consider whether market forces and labeling would achieve the desired improvements; instead, DOE was commanded to require those improvements at once, whether or not they might occur anyway. 100 However, the legislative history does not bear out petitioners' account of Congress' intent. The House Report explains succinctly what Congress hoped NECPA would accomplish: 101 First, the cornerstone of the national energy plan is conservation, and the proposal permits [the Federal Energy Administration] immediately to begin the process of establishing energy efficiency standards. If the present program were to continue without change, FEA would be permitted to set standards for a type of appliance only after a target had been established, energy labels had been in place for 18 months, data had been collected on industry performance, and there was evidence that targets were not being achieved. At the May 11, 1977, hearings, the FEA contended that this process could delay [for] some 2 to 3 years the imposition of standards that will guarantee the attainment of technologically feasible and economically justifiable energy improvement targets. 102 The second purpose of utilizing minimum standards, as opposed to industry targets, is to place each manufacturer on an equal footing; all would be required to achieve the same energy efficiency. Under the target approach, there would be little incentive by a manufacturer to exceed a target, and to do so might place a given manufacturer at a competitive disadvantage. 103 The third purpose of the proposal is to eliminate uncertainties among manufacturers under the present target-setting approach. The uncertainty in the present system arises from the fact that targets are industry-wide and a particular manufacturer must decide on what its contribution to the target should be. If the manufacturer chooses to exceed the target, he must consider the long-term effect on his company. He has no certainty over whether his appliances will ensure that the target is met, or whether standards will eventually be established. 104 H.R.Rep. No. 496, Pt. 4, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 45 (1977), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1978, p. 8492. This passage certainly suggests congressional impatience with the delays that the wait-and-see approach of EPCA as originally enacted had caused. Congress plainly did not want DOE to delay the issuance of standards while it observed the effects of the target and labeling programs. However, neither NECPA nor its legislative history suggests that DOE may not project future gains in appliance efficiency and act on those projections in framing its method for deciding what savings would result from standards. 30 105 We conclude, therefore, that DOE's use of projected gains in appliance efficiency to calculate energy savings resulting from standards was not unlawful. We must therefore consider whether the computer model that generated those projected gains--and the factual assumptions driving that model--were reasonable tools to carry out DOE's general approach to figuring energy savings.