Tuesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for air conditioning and heating units, life jackets on boats, partially-blind truck drivers, toxic chemicals, and helicopter air ambulances.
Here’s what is happening:
Efficiency: The Department of Energy is considering new efficiency standards for certain air conditioning and heating units that it says would cost industry millions of dollars.
The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced Monday it is looking at new rules for small, large, and very large air-cooled commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment.
The new rules would cost industry between $88 million and $311 million, DOE estimates.
The public has 60 days to comment.
Life jackets: The Coast Guard is correcting mistakes made in new safety requirements it issued last week for personal floatation devices on boats.
The new labeling rules are intended to better explain how boaters can safely use life jackets.
“We believe that the current labels on Coast Guard-approved PFDs are confusing to the boating public and do not effectively communicate important safety and regulatory information to users and law enforcement personnel,” the Coast Guard wrote.
The new rules go into effect next month.
Blind: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is considering letting dozens of truck drivers who suffer from impaired vision get behind the wheel.
For the third time in the last month, the FMCSA is considering exemptions from the vision requirement for 33 truck drivers who are partially blind but can still see clearly in one eye.
Earlier this month, the FMCSA exempted another 52 vision-impaired drivers from the same requirements. And in late August, the agency exempted 14 such drivers and said it was considering exemptions for another 35 drivers.
The public has 30 days to comment.
Chemicals: The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with new reporting requirements for toxic chemicals.
The EPA said Monday it is adding nonylphenol to a list of toxic chemicals that companies must report under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
The rule goes into effect immediately.
Helicopters: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is moving forward with new safety rules for helicopter air ambulances.
The FAA said Monday it is clarifying the approach and departure regulations for helicopter air ambulances.
The changes go into effect immediately.