The Department makes vital contributions to the Nation's welfare through its extraordinary scientific and technical capabilities in energy research, environmental remediation, and national security. The Department's top priorities are:
¤ Enhancing the Nation's energy security by developing and deploying clean and affordable energy supplies and by improving the energy efficiency of our economy;
¤ Ensuring a safe and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile and reducing the global nuclear danger;
¤ Cleaning up former nuclear weapons sites and addressing the complex challenge of disposing of nuclear wastes; and
¤ Leveraging science and technology to advance fundamental knowledge and our country's competitiveness with stronger partnership with the private sector.
The Department of Energy's 1998 regulatory plan reflects the Department's continuing commitment to enhance safety, cut costs, reduce regulatory burden, and increase responsiveness to the public. While not primarily a major Federal regulatory agency, the Department's regulatory activities are essential to achieving its critical mission and priorities.
Energy Efficiency Program for Consumer Products and Commercial Equipment
In April 1997, the Department published a final rule (62 FR 23101) to revise energy efficiency standards for refrigerators and freezers manufactured after January 1, 2001. The energy savings from the new efficiency standards for refrigerators are expected to be 6.7 quadrillion BTUs or more than 580 billion kilowatt hours of electricity over 30 years. ``That is equivalent to 4 years of electric power generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Nation's largest public utility. It represents a mountain of coal a half mile high that doesn't have to be burned,'' said Vice President Al Gore. The new refrigerators, which will use 30 percent less energy, will save consumers over $1 billion in 2010 and over $2 billion in 2020.
In September 1997, the Department published a final rule (62 FR 50122) to establish energy efficiency standards for room air conditioners, which will result in a 10 percent energy saving. With more than 4.8 million room air conditioners sold annually in the United States, the new standards will save consumers up to 450 million dollars by 2030. The new room air conditioner standards are the result of a cooperative effort among industry, environmentalists, consumer advocates, utilities, and the Department. The new standards will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 54 million metric tons over 30 years--or the equivalent of burning a football field full of coal three-and-a-half miles high. Saving the Nation the equivalent of 110 million barrels of oil over a 30-year period, the new standards are good for industry, good for consumers, and good for the environment.
In a final rule published in September 1998, the Department determined that new or revised energy efficiency standards for electric cooking products (i.e., kitchen ranges, ovens, and microwaves) could not be economically justified.
The Department established an Advisory Committee on Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards in January 1997. The advisory committee is made up of interested stakeholders and is chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In April 1998, the committee made its most recent recommendations to the Department. The Department will be collecting data to implement these recommendations in future rulemaking analyses, including the use of marginal energy rates, a range of future energy prices, and primary energy conversion factors.
The Department's rulemaking activities related to energy efficiency standards and determinations have been categorized as high, medium, or low priority. The schedules in this regulatory plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions reflect priorities established with significant input from the public. The standards rulemakings will incorporate the process improvements established in July 1996, including more workshops to collect public input and new, more transparent forecasting models developed with the help of industry experts, including manufacturers.
During fiscal year 1999, the Department expects to take substantial action with respect to the high priority standards rulemakings (i.e., clothes washers, fluorescent lamp ballasts, water heaters, and residential central air conditioning and central air conditioning heat pumps). Additional information and timetables for these actions are presented below. Information concerning the medium priority rulemakings (i.e., small electric motors and high intensity discharge lamps) and low priority rulemakings (i.e., clothes dryers, dishwashers, mobile home furnaces, residential furnaces and boilers, pool heaters, direct heating equipment, 1-200 HP motors, and fluorescent and incandescent lamps) and the test procedures rulemakings can be found in the Department's regulatory agenda, which appears elsewhere.
Nuclear Safety Regulations
The Department is committed to openness and public participation as it addresses one of its greatest challenges--managing the environment, health, and safety risks posed by its nuclear activities. A key element in the management of these risks is to establish the Department's expectations and requirements relative to nuclear safety and to hold its contractors accountable for safety performance. The 1988 Price-Anderson Amendments Act revisions to the Atomic Energy Act required the Department to enforce contractor violations of nuclear safety requirements through the imposition of civil and criminal penalties. As a result, new nuclear safety requirements were initiated with the publication of four notices of proposed rulemaking for review and comment in 1991. The Department's nuclear safety procedural regulations (10 CFR part 820) were published as a final rule in 1993. The Department is revising two rules on radiation protection (10 CFR parts 834 and 835) to establish additional reporting, monitoring, and discharge requirements and a dose limitation system for protecting the environment and the public, as well as the Department's Federal and contractor work force. Part 835 was published as a final rule in December 1994. Revisions to part 835 based on a comprehensive evaluation of the Department's radiation protection program are expected to be finalized this fall. The new nuclear safety management rule (10 CFR part 830) will codify and strengthen requirements applicable to contractors and subcontractors who manage and operate the Department's nuclear facilities. The quality assurance regulations of this rule (10 CFR 830.120) were published as a final rule in April 1995.
In August 1995, the Department published a notice of limited reopening of the comment period to request public comments on the remaining part 830 and part 834 rulemakings. The Department has substantially completed the comment resolution process and has addressed the major issues raised by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board snd the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Department expects to complete final action on the part 834 rulemaking before July 1999.
The Department recently established an integrated safety management initiative to ensure that safety activities at a DOE site or facility are integrated and appropriate for the work and hazards. One outcome of this initiative, incorporated as part of the contract reform final rule published on June 27, 1997, requires contractors to manage and perform work in accordance with a documented safety management system that ensures that safety is integrated into all phases of work. Part 830 is being reviewed to ensure its regulatory framework is consistent with integrated safety management and to avoid duplication and counterproductive efforts. The part 830 rulemaking will be completed in 2 phases. Phase 1 will address such issues as the conduct of operations, technical safety training, and safety reporting. Phase 2 will establish requirements for nuclear design criteria, fire protection, natural phenomena hazards mitigation, and nuclear criticality safety. The Department expects to complete final action on phase 1 and to issue a proposed rule on phase 2 of part 830 by the middle of 1999.
Additionally, the Department is conducting pilot projects to assess the feasibility of external regulation of its nuclear facilities and activities by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Both DOE and NRC are reviewing their respective nuclear safety rules as part of an ongoing pilot program. These reviews will determine (a) whether DOE facilities, which were designed, built, and operated under DOE requirements, could be operated and regulated under current NRC requirements and (b) whether any transition would be facilitated by revisions to either DOE or NRC rules. The time necessary to conduct these reviews is reflected in the revised schedule for completing the part 830 rule, which addresses facilities safety requirements.
In May 1997, the Department issued a notice of intent to form an advisory committee on beryllium. The purpose of this committee was to provide advice, information, and recommendations for a proposed rulemaking on occupational exposures to beryllium, which the Department expects to publish for comment in November 1998. As an interim measure, the Department issued an administrative directive to establish a chronic beryllium disease prevention program that enhances an existing worker protection program.
Regulatory Reform
The Department is committed to making its regulations less burdensome, more cost-effective, and more responsive to the needs of our stakeholders. Since 1995, the Department has eliminated over one-third of its regulations and reduced by one-quarter the paperwork burden it imposes on the public. In addition, the Department has revised over the past 3 years more than half of its existing regulations in an effort to make them simpler and easier to understand.
In June 1998, the President directed agencies to use plain language in regulations issued after January 1, 1999. In response to this initiative, the Department is including the use of plain language in its rulemaking development training program. The Department also is conducting a sunset review of its internal regulations (i.e., directives, manuals, and guides), which will provide an opportunity to either cancel old documents or revise them to make them more understandable.