Letters From Our Readers: May 27, 2013
Editor’s Note: The following remarks were made on The NEWS’ group, The NEWS Network, on LinkedIn, about the Department of Energy (DOE) declaring it temporarily won’t enforce its regional standards for nonweatherized furnaces.
A Rule is a Rule
In terms of the DOE saying that it will not enforce the ruling, well of course this is not a good thing. I believe this for two reasons.
The first is to let the people that have been fighting this regulation [know it’s time] to stop. The ruling is still on the books. It is still a regulation whether they enforce it or not.
This is no different than a speed limit on a highway. It says the speed limit is 75 miles per hour. But you have a local officer that says “We will not enforce it.” It’s still a speed limit, so what happens one day in the future when they want to enforce it all the sudden?
The second: They want this regulation to stay on the books, not be enforced. Let things settle down so that it can be brought back in a blink of the eye and be shoved upon the homeowners in this country. Why? Because if it gets shut down, it is a four- to seven-year process to bring it back.
You don’t think this will happen? Well, no one really knows at this point. I can tell you it makes the people out there look like complete tools, telling their customers it’s happening, it’s not happening, it’s happening, it’s not happening.
When was the last time you saw the DOE run a TV commercial campaign educating the American people about this? You don’t because if you did, we wouldn’t be talking about this right now because it would have never become a regulation.
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Matt Lattanzi
Director of Product Management
Nordyne
Greater St. Louis Area
It’s Good News
It is good news. The lawsuit and pending settlement agreement have created too much uncertainty for the industry. If this had moved forward as planned, the stranded inventory in the channel would have been problematic. Not to mention, the DOE has not yet published its enforcement ruling, so we would have a new minimum without knowing how it would have been enforced.
Robert McClelland
Quick Service Heating Cooling Plumbing Duct Cleaning
Kansas City, Mo. Area
Publication date: 5/27/2013