New regs for Wednesday: Trains, agricultural workers, energy conservation standards

Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules for the on-time performance of trains, agricultural workers, and energy efficiency rules for water heaters and residential boilers.

Here’s what is happening:

Trains: The Surface Transportation Board is considering new rules for the “on-time performance” of trains.

The future rulemaking seeks to define trains’ on-time performance.

“The board concludes that it is appropriate to institute a rulemaking proceeding to define on-time performance,” the agency wrote.

Agriculture workers: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing new agricultural worker protection standards to address the use of pesticides.

The EPA sent an advanced copy of the draft regulatory document to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for review, but won’t release the rule to the public for another 30 days.

The agriculture secretary will have an opportunity to comment on the rule before it is released to the public.

The EPA noted  rule will address “agricultural worker safety, environmental protection, farmworker, handler, pesticide handler, pesticide safety training, pesticide worker safety, worker, worker protection standard regulations.”

Efficiency: The Department of Energy is delaying new test procedures for water heaters.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy proposed moving toward uniform efficiency measurements for water heaters in April, but is now reopening the comment period.

The public will have until June 15 to comment.

Efficiency: The Department of Energy is delaying potentially new efficiency rules for residential boilers.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in March proposed new energy conservation standards for residential boilers along with a document looking at the potential economic impacts and energy savings of such a rule.

But the agency is now extending the comment period through July 1 to give the public more time to discuss the potential changes.