Report on the September 20 – 21, 2023, BECS Committee Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio.

Thanks to everyone who attended in-person or participated virtually in this week’s very productive, September 20 – 21, 2023, BECS Committee meeting held in Cleveland, Ohio.  The draft minutes of the meeting will be sent out in the near future. All presentations made at the meeting will be posted on the BECS Committee site soon.

DOE Publishes a Final Rule; Correction Notice Pertaining to Standards for Commercial Packaged Boilers. 

Back on July 7th, we reported that the US Court of Appeals for DC vacated DOE’s efficiency rule for commercial fuel gas packaged boilers (CPB). Essentially, DOE issued a rule, and the court remanded it back to DOE in 2022 to resolve certain issues.  DOE later issued a supplement to the rule, which was also challenged, and today’s opinion vacates DOE’s original rule and the supplement.  While commercial packaged fuel gas boilers are not as large of a market as for example residential natural furnaces, boilers, water heaters, etc., the Opinion is important because, among other things:

• There is a willingness of the court to not defer to DOE.
• The court is willing to vacate a DOE efficiency rule.
• The court stresses the need for notice and comment.
• DOE cannot ignore filed arguments.
• DOE’s assumptions, models, and methods can be overturn by the court.

On Tuesday, DOE published a Federal Register notice for CPBs following up on the Court action. In the notice, DOE stated that in accordance with the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), DOE is required to “among other things, periodically consider whether amended standards for CPBs are warranted. On January 10, 2020, DOE complied with this requirement by publishing a final rule in the Federal Register that established amended standards for CPBs. The American Public Gas Association (APGA), Air-conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), and Spire Inc. filed petitions for review of the final rule in the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), Fourth Circuit, and Eighth Circuit, respectively. These petitions were consolidated in the D.C. Circuit. In accordance with the D.C. Circuit’s opinion, on January 18, 2022, DOE published a supplemental response to comments on April 20, 2022. In response, APGA, AHRI, and Spire Inc. filed separate petitions for review of the final rule as supplemented. These petitions were consolidated in the D.C. Circuit. The D.C. Circuit issued its opinion on July 7, 2023, granting the petitions for review, vacating the final rule as supplemented, and remanding the proceedings to DOE. Consistent with the judgment, DOE is amending the CFR to reflect the court’s order vacating the standards for CPB. This action is effective on September 19, 2023. However, the opinion had legal effect on August 28, 2023.”

It’s important to recognize that the concepts addressed by the court in this proceeding and the opinion issued is likely to influence other DOE rulemakings that are in process including the residential natural gas furnace, water heater rules, etc.