Hydraulic Institute Announced the Release of Two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking

The long-anticipated NOPR for Energy Conservation Standards for Pumps was issued by the U.S. DOE on March 17th. This extensive 257-page document is now available for public review and comment. Also, the NOPR for the Test Procedures for Commercial and Industrial Pumps was issued by the U.S. DOE on March 13th. This major 270-page document is also available for public review and comment. HI intends to respond on behalf of its members, both in writing and at the April 29th Public Hearing in Washington, DC.

HI’s website provides information on the public hearing, including how to register to participate by webinar. All notices, public comments, public meeting transcripts, and supporting documents associated with this rulemaking are included in DOE’s separate Dockets. The DOE website also gives guidance on how to comment on the rulemaking and provides background on its statutory authority and other rulemaking documents. The public comment period closes 75 days after publication in the Federal Register for the Test NOPR and 60 days for the Efficiency NOPR.

HI intends, as it has done in the past, to organize pump industry input with and through HI members and to submit a summary of consolidated and consensus-based comments to the U.S. DOE. The DOE Rulemaking section of the HI website provides background and a history of HI’s efforts to represent its members throughout the DOE rulemaking process, which began in early 2011.

Members of the Hydraulic Institute who have been actively involved in the creation of the new HI 40.6 Efficiency Testing for Rotodynamic Pumps standard, cited and referenced in the NOPR, along with HI members on the Appliance Standards Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ASRAC) Pump Working Group and other HI members involved in Pump Efficiency Rating (PER) metric analysis will work to review the NOPR and be prepared to submit comments to DOE during the hearing on April 29, 2015. The ASRAC Pump Working Group reached a consensus agreement with the DOE on June 19, 2014. Consensus is defined in a Term Sheet, documenting all of the negotiated positions, including a summary of the voting on each position. DOE documented the details as part of the rulemaking development process. The Term Sheet is also available on the HI website. All pump OEMs that manufacture clean water pumps included within the scope of the proposed rule are encouraged to review the proposed rulemaking and engage in the process of responding at this stage of the DOE process.