Industry News
Feds Hint At Changing Showerhead Tune
by Mike Miazga
September 9, 2010
Recent meeting with plumbing manufacturers termed productive.
A recent meeting in Washington
between plumbing manufacturer constituents and the Department of Energy yielded
productive results according to the Department’s general counsel.
Plumbing Manufacturers Institute
Executive Director Barbara
Higgens, along with representatives from Moen, Masco Corp. and
Kohler met with DOE general counsel Scott Blake Harris in late August to provide information
about adverse economic impacts of the controversial draft interpretive rule
setting forth DOE’s views on the definition of a showerhead.
“I thought it was a very productive
meeting and very useful to us,” Harris told pme.
“It’s good to talk to people face to face instead of talking to people through
the press. I shouldn’t characterize (industry’s) thinking, that wouldn’t be
fair, but I’m confident our approach will cause less disruption to industry
than some people have thought.”
Harris said these types of meetings are
common during public comment periods.
“They requested the meeting and we said
we would be delighted to meet with them,” he stated. “We encourage others that
are interested to come in and meet with us.”
Harris clarified that his opinion of the
industry after the meeting hasn’t changed.
“I’ve always had a good opinion of the industry,”
he said. “Perhaps people misunderstood what we’re trying to accomplish and how
we wanted to accomplish it.”
Harris said a final ruling is still on
track to be released in early October. He noted the draft interpretive rule is
still in the intra-governmental process and has been sent to the Office of
Management and Budget for comments from other government agencies.
“It’s still in the rule-making process,”
he said.
Harris also pointed out documents
related to the meeting can be found on the DOE General Counsel’s Web site.
Included in those extensive documents are the results of an independent third-party
study that PMI commissioned regarding the potential economic impact of the
draft interpretive rule.
The study, performed by W & W
Services, Inc., stated that based on data collected from PMI members, the
inventory, capital and training costs that would result from the proposed
change would total over $108 million, while the combined one-time costs and
recurring costs reported to W & W if the definition change goes through
would total $412 million.
To read PMI’s full supplemental comments
regarding the economic impacts of the proposed showerhead definition, visit
http://www.gc.energy.gov/documents/PlumbingManu_SuppComments_Showerheads.pdf
.
Mike Miazga
miazgam@bnpmedia.com
Mike Miazga is the senior editor of pme. He can be reached at 847/405-4056.
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