Opinion ID: 599244
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Building Insulation

Text: 19 In August 1988, the EPA issued a proposed guideline for the procurement of building insulation products containing recycled materials. Guideline for Procurement of Building Insulation Products Containing Recovered Materials (Proposed Rule), 53 Fed.Reg. 29,166 (1988). This proposed regulation also included an incidental purchases exception, and explained: 20 An example of an insulation purchase unrelated or incidental to Federal funding is where funds have been provided for public transit maintenance and a new facility is built in which vehicles are repaired. The contractor constructing the maintenance facility also builds a temporary on-site management structure. Any insulation purchases for the second structure are not subject to the requirements in section 6002 of the guideline, even though some of the grant funds supporting the contract might be used to finance the purchases. 21 Id. at 29,188. The insulation guideline provided no specific information as to price and availability, nor did it include a minimum content standard for fiberglass building insulation. 22 Commenters objected to the incidental purchases exception and the EPA's failure to provide a minimum content standard for fiberglass insulation or information on price, availability, and performance of building insulation using recovered materials. 23 The final insulation guideline, issued in February 1989, retains the incidental purchases exception, although without the example. Guidelines for Federal Procurement of Building Insulation Products Containing Recovered Materials (Final Rule), 54 Fed.Reg. 7,328 (1989) (codified at 40 C.F.R. § 248.1 et seq. (1992)). The preamble to the guideline acknowledges some commenters' concerns about the incidental purchases exception and adopts language similar to that of the final tire guideline in promising further review and later publication of detailed guidance concerning the incidental purchases exception. Id. at 7,341. No further guidance has yet been forthcoming. The final insulation guideline contains no information on price and availability, although it does state an intent to establish a telephone hotline and a list of manufacturers of building insulation. Id. at 7,353. The final guideline also does not have a minimum content standard for fiberglass building insulation. Id. at 7,348.