New regs for Thursday: Energy conservation rules extend to wine chillers

The Obama administration wants to add energy conservation regulations to ice makers and wine chillers, put some foreign fish on the endangered species list and give the public more time to comment on a worker safety rule.

Here’s a look at the new regulations coming out on Thursday:

Energy:

The Department of Energy has made an initial decision extending energy conservation requirements to wine chillers, ice makers and similar products.

According to the department, those products should be subject to requirements of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which requires various household and commercial products to be energy efficient.

The law did not specifically outline which products would qualify for conservation rules, but gave the department the ability to determine if products should be covered. 

Silica:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is publishing a notice that it will accept public comments on a high-profile worker safety proposal for another month and a half. 

Unions and public safety advocates have cheered the rule limiting the amount of silica dust that workers can be exposed to, but in recent weeks, small businesses and their advocates have asked for more time to weigh in on the draft rule, which stretches for 755 pages. 

Giving those businesses a few more weeks to review the proposal, advocates say, would help them identify any provisions that should be edited or clarified.

Animals:

The Commerce Department has determined that five species of sturgeon living in waters throughout the globe should be declared endangered, and is proposing to protect them under federal law.

Additionally, the Fish and Wildlife Service is reopening the comment period to add a population of North American wolverines to the endangered species list. 

Finance:

Nonprofit organizations will have new reporting requirements thanks to a change in rules from the Commodity Development Financial Institutions Fund.

The fund, which is a part of the Treasury Department, provides loans and grants to financial institutions that invest in their communities.

The change in rules requires some of those institutions to provide audited financial statements within 180 days after the end of the fiscal year that they receive the money. 

Federal workers:

The General Services Administration, which sets rules for federal government operations, is removing an option that let some workers be reimbursed for hotels when they traveled to conferences

The agency says that removing the rule is part of the process of analyzing old regulations to find ones that are out of date. 

Housing:

The Department of Homeland Security has identified a number of areas where food insurance sales will be suspended.

According to the agency, the listed towns have not complied with “floodplain management requirements” of the federal flood insurance program. 

Separately, the Farm Credit Administration is changing the operational and planning rules for a federal agricultural mortgage lender known as Farmer Mac. 

Superfund:
The Environmental Protection Agency is deleting a Superfund site California from its national list, since “all appropriate response actions” have been completed. 

Veterans:

The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to change its rules for an appeals board. 

Acquisition:

The Department of Defense is making a number of changes to its acquisition rules.

The new amendments remove a requirement that the director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency has to review waivers for foreign countries to use government property, add Croatia to a list of countries with procurement agreements and implement part of the U.S.-Panama free trade deal. 

Other measures out on Thursday deal with a situation in which only one offer is made for an acquisition competition, notifying the private sector about some actions and propose to align the department’s rules with changes made to operational instructions.