On February 14, APGA submitted additional comments in response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) notice of opportunity for oral presentation pertaining to the Safety Standard for Residential Gas Furnaces and Boilers.
APGA supports provisions in safety standards that are appropriate and practical. Additionally, the public gas utilities in our membership provide the energy used in residential gas furnaces. For these reasons, it is important to engage in this CPSC proposed rulemaking, which preliminarily determined that there is an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with residential gas furnaces. The notice provided stakeholders an opportunity to make an oral presentation on the related notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR). In addition to oral presentations, the CPSC also accepted written comments. Accordingly, APGA decided to just offer written comments in response to this notice.
In the comments, APGA supported the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute’s (AHRI) comments and the findings of RIAS Inc.’s assessment of the preliminary regulatory analysis of the CPSC's NOPR. The RIAS report was commissioned by AHRI, and its findings show flaws in the CPSC’s assessment of risks and incidents of furnaces and boilers. Further, the report highlights that the CPSC’s assessment lacks the demonstration of unreasonable risk. To see APGA’s written comments in response to the Notice, click here.
APGA also restated the previously submitted comments that APGA jointly submitted on January 25 in response to the CPSC’s NOPR on the Safety Standard for Residential Gas Furnaces and Boilers. To see the previous comments, click here.
On February 21, the CPSC held a hearing to hear the oral presentations on the NOPR. APGA monitored this hearing and will continue to work on this issue and inform members of any future actions by the CPSC.
For questions on this article, please contact Sydney Novoa of APGA by phone at 202-464-0834 or email at snovoa@apga.org.