Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY <CFR>10 CFR Part 431</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EERE-2017-BT-STD-009]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1904-AD79</RIN> <SUBJECT>Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy (DOE). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule; delay of effective date. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> This document further delays the effective date of a recently published final rule adopting amended energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> As of March 20, 2025, the effective date of the rule amending 10 CFR part 431 published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> at 89 FR 104616 on December 23, 2024, is delayed until May 20, 2025. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Mr. Troy Watson, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Office, EE-5B, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 449-9387. Email: <E T="03">ApplianceStandardsQuestions@ee.doe.gov.</E> Ms. Ani Esenyan, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of the General Counsel, GC-33, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585-0121. Telephone: (202) 586-4798. Email: <E T="03">ani.esenyan@hq.doe.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued the “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” memorandum, published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on January 28, 2025 (90 FR 8249). This presidential action ordered all executive departments and agencies to consider postponing for 60 days the effective date of certain rules published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise. Additionally, executive departments and agencies were to consider opening a comment period to allow interested parties to provide comments about issues of fact, law, and policy raised by the rules postponed under the memorandum. Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) delayed the effective date of its final rule adopting amended energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and freezers (“walk-ins” or “WICFs”) published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on December 23, 2024 (89 FR 104616) and an accompanying correction document published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on January 7, 2025 (90 FR 1029) to March 21, 2025. 90 FR 9951 (Feb. 20, 2025). DOE also sought comment on any further delay of the effective date, including the impacts of such delay, as well as comment on the legal, factual, or policy issues raised by the rule. DOE is still in the process of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy for this rule and comment received on the rule. As such, and consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025, DOE further delays the effective date of this rule another 60-days to May 20, 2025. To the extent that 5 U.S.C. 553 applies to this action, it is exempt from notice and comment because it constitutes a rule of procedure under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A) and for which no notice or hearing is required by statute. Further, the delay of the effective date to May 20, 2025, does not affect the compliance date for this rule, which remains December 23, 2027, for walk-in non-display doors and December 31, 2028, for walk-in refrigeration systems. As such, this action is not a “substantive rule” for which a 30-day delay in effective date is required under 5 U.S.C. 553(d). <HD SOURCE="HD1">Signing Authority</HD> This document of the Department of Energy was signed on March 13, 2025, by Lou Hrkman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . <SIG> <DATED>Signed in Washington, DC, on March 13, 2025.</DATED> <NAME>Treena V. Garrett,</NAME> Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy. </SIG> </SUPLINF> <FRDOC>[FR Doc. 2025-04474 Filed 3-19-25; 8:45 am]</FRDOC> </RULE>