DOE Delays Energy Rule – Manufactured Home Industry Must Now Demand Total Revocation of Destructive Regulation
DOE DELAYS ENERGY RULE – INDUSTRY MUST NOW
DEMAND TOTAL REVOCATION OF DESTRUCTIVE REGULATION
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that its discriminatory and destructive “energy conservation” standards for HUD Code manufactured homes, slated to go into effect on May 31, 2023, will be delayed to an indefinite date in the future pending the development of testing, enforcement and regulatory compliance procedures (see, Federal Register notice attached).
This desperation move by DOE should not –and must not – result in the industry backing down on its pressure to strike down the DOE energy standards and any related enforcement mechanism in their entirety and to send DOE back to the drawing board on this entire matter, with proper input, consultation and coordination with both HUD and the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) as required by applicable law.
The delay in the effective date of the energy standards stemming from a corrupted DOE “negotiated rulemaking” process initiated in 2015, effectively concedes the validity of MHARR’s longstanding assertion that DOE’s 2022 final standards could not become effective without a testing, enforcement and compliance mechanism, and that DOE’s final rule is fatally defective because the costs associated with such regulatory compliance – an essential component of any rule — were not included in DOE’s supposed cost-benefit analysis.
The industry’s objective, accordingly – and the objective of the pending litigation brought by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) – cannot be the mere delay of an illegitimate and destructive rule that would ultimately devastate the manufactured housing market. Rather, the objective should – and must be – the total invalidation and rejection of the rule, either by DOE itself or pursuant to a court order after full litigation on the merits. MHARR, had it been a party to that litigation (notwithstanding the broad and liberal use of MHARR arguments and theories in that case), would have insisted on the final and total invalidation of the 2022 DOE final rule as the ultimate objective of that court action.
Given this situation, MHARR will continue to vigorously monitor the pending litigation and will also file comments in the DOE implementation delay docket calling for the repeal of the 2022 final DOE rule in its entirety and for DOE to go “back to the drawing board” on manufactured housing energy standards in full and proper consultation with HUD and the MHCC, in full compliance with its enabling law. Comments in the delay docket are due by April 24, 2023. MHARR will file its comments soon and will make those comments available for reference by industry members in advance of the comment deadline. MHARR, as always, encourages industry members to file their own written comments.
cc: Other Interested HUD Code Manufacturers, Retailers, Communities and State Associations
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)
1331 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Suite 512
Washington D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARR@
Website: manufacturedhousingassociation
DOE DELAYS ENERGY RULE – INDUSTRY MUST NOW
DEMAND TOTAL REVOCATION OF DESTRUCTIVE REGULATION
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that its discriminatory and destructive “energy conservation” standards for HUD Code manufactured homes, slated to go into effect on May 31, 2023, will be delayed to an indefinite date in the future pending the development of testing, enforcement and regulatory compliance procedures (see, Federal Register notice attached).
This desperation move by DOE should not –and must not – result in the industry backing down on its pressure to strike down the DOE energy standards and any related enforcement mechanism in their entirety and to send DOE back to the drawing board on this entire matter, with proper input, consultation and coordination with both HUD and the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC) as required by applicable law.
The delay in the effective date of the energy standards stemming from a corrupted DOE “negotiated rulemaking” process initiated in 2015, effectively concedes the validity of MHARR’s longstanding assertion that DOE’s 2022 final standards could not become effective without a testing, enforcement and compliance mechanism, and that DOE’s final rule is fatally defective because the costs associated with such regulatory compliance – an essential component of any rule — were not included in DOE’s supposed cost-benefit analysis.
The industry’s objective, accordingly – and the objective of the pending litigation brought by the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) – cannot be the mere delay of an illegitimate and destructive rule that would ultimately devastate the manufactured housing market. Rather, the objective should – and must be – the total invalidation and rejection of the rule, either by DOE itself or pursuant to a court order after full litigation on the merits. MHARR, had it been a party to that litigation (notwithstanding the broad and liberal use of MHARR arguments and theories in that case), would have insisted on the final and total invalidation of the 2022 DOE final rule as the ultimate objective of that court action.
Given this situation, MHARR will continue to vigorously monitor the pending litigation and will also file comments in the DOE implementation delay docket calling for the repeal of the 2022 final DOE rule in its entirety and for DOE to go “back to the drawing board” on manufactured housing energy standards in full and proper consultation with HUD and the MHCC, in full compliance with its enabling law. Comments in the delay docket are due by April 24, 2023. MHARR will file its comments soon and will make those comments available for reference by industry members in advance of the comment deadline. MHARR, as always, encourages industry members to file their own written comments.
cc: Other Interested HUD Code Manufacturers, Retailers, Communities and State Associations
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR)
1331 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Suite 512
Washington D.C. 20004
Phone: 202/783-4087
Fax: 202/783-4075
Email: MHARR@
Website: manufacturedhousingassociation
