Hydrofluorocarbons are commonly found in air conditioners and refrigerators and often leak from piping and can be thousands of times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide.
File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The Environmental Protection Agency will finalize its first new climate rule on Thursday, which restricts the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons -- a global-warming chemical used commonly in air conditioners and refrigerators.
The White House announced the rule and said it takes aim at what it calls a "super-pollutant."
The EPA's move will mark the first time the federal government has ever tried to place limits on the use of hydrofluorocarbons.
Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The Environmental Protection Agency will finalize its first new climate rule on Thursday, which restricts the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons -- a global-warming chemical used commonly in air conditioners and refrigerators.
The White House announced the rule and said it takes aim at what it calls a "super-pollutant."
The EPA's move will mark the first time the federal government has ever tried to place limits on the use of hydrofluorocarbons.
In addition to curbing hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the rule takes other interagency actions that "together represent one of the most impactful federal efforts to reduce climate pollution in decades," the White House said in a statement.
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Officials said the rule has the potential to curb 85% of HFCs over the next 15 years. The EPA first made the HFC rule proposal in May.
In its announcement on Thursday, the White House said pollutants from HFCs have a significant impact on global warming and can be thousands of times more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide.
"HFCs are exacerbating climate change and extreme weather events and the corresponding public health threats, physical damage and economic costs," the administration added.
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The White House said the new rule, along with the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing Act passed last year, could reduce more than 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from the environment by 2050.
The announcement said the rule will "bolster competitiveness of American industries" and "maintain and create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, union jobs" nationwide.
The EPA rule follows through on a law passed by Congress last year, the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, which addresses HFCs by phasing down production and consumption, managing the chemical and substitutes and encouraging transition to cleaner technologies.
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Biden has previously pledged support for a global agreement reached in 2016 -- the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol -- to cut HFCs worldwide.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners
WASHINGTON (AP) — In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners
.
© Provided by The Canadian Press
The new rule, which follows through on a law Congress passed last year, is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming.
HFCs are greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming. President Joe Biden has pledged to embrace a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce HFCs by 2036.
White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator, said the new rule was “a win on climate and a win on jobs and American competitiveness.''
The rule is expected to reduce harmful emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, McCarthy said, a total similar to three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the phasedown is backed by a coalition of industry groups that see it as an opportunity to “supercharge” American leadership on domestic manufacturing and production of alternative refrigerants. The industry has long been shifting to the use of alternative refrigerants and pushed for a federal standard to avoid a patchwork of state laws and regulations.
"This action reaffirms what President Biden always says — that when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,'' Regan said, echoing a Biden refrain about climate change. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits over the next 30 years, Regan said.
A pandemic relief and spending bill passed by Congress last December directs the EPA to sharply reduce production and use of HFCs. The measure won wide support and was hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade.
Besides targeting HFCs, the American Innovation and Manufacturing, or AIM, Act also promotes technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide produced by power and manufacturing plants and calls for reductions in diesel emissions by buses and other vehicles.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was an influential backer of the law, along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Both represent states that are home to chemical companies that produce alternative refrigerants and sought regulatory certainty through federal action.
The HFC provision was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. The chemistry council represents major companies including Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours and Arkema.
The administration said it also is taking other steps to ensure reductions in HFCs, including creation of an interagency task force to prevent illegal trade, production, use or sale of the climate-damaging gases. The task force will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, and EPA’s offices of Air and Radiation and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Working with the departments of Justice, State and Defense, the task force will "detect, deter and disrupt any attempt to illegally import or produce HFCs in the United States,'' the White House said in a fact sheet.
Joseph Goffman, a top official with EPA's air and radiation office, said the experience of the European Union shows that enforcement is an important part of an HFC crackdown.
“Unfortunately, (the EU) has experienced a lot of illegal activity” on HFC imports and other issues, Goffman said. “We're going to be vigorous and proactive" in trying to stop illegal imports, he said.
Biden issued an executive order in January that embraces a 2016 amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution. That amendment calls for the United States and other large industrialized countries to reduce HFCs by 85% by 2036. The State Department has prepared documents for formal ratification of the amendment, but the White House has not submitted them to the Senate.
McCarthy insisted "there is no hold up'' on the amendment, but said she did not know when Biden would submit the matter to the Senate.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Press
The new rule, which follows through on a law Congress passed last year, is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming.
HFCs are greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming. President Joe Biden has pledged to embrace a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce HFCs by 2036.
White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator, said the new rule was “a win on climate and a win on jobs and American competitiveness.''
The rule is expected to reduce harmful emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, McCarthy said, a total similar to three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the phasedown is backed by a coalition of industry groups that see it as an opportunity to “supercharge” American leadership on domestic manufacturing and production of alternative refrigerants. The industry has long been shifting to the use of alternative refrigerants and pushed for a federal standard to avoid a patchwork of state laws and regulations.
"This action reaffirms what President Biden always says — that when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,'' Regan said, echoing a Biden refrain about climate change. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits over the next 30 years, Regan said.
A pandemic relief and spending bill passed by Congress last December directs the EPA to sharply reduce production and use of HFCs. The measure won wide support and was hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade.
Besides targeting HFCs, the American Innovation and Manufacturing, or AIM, Act also promotes technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide produced by power and manufacturing plants and calls for reductions in diesel emissions by buses and other vehicles.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was an influential backer of the law, along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Both represent states that are home to chemical companies that produce alternative refrigerants and sought regulatory certainty through federal action.
The HFC provision was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. The chemistry council represents major companies including Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours and Arkema.
The administration said it also is taking other steps to ensure reductions in HFCs, including creation of an interagency task force to prevent illegal trade, production, use or sale of the climate-damaging gases. The task force will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, and EPA’s offices of Air and Radiation and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Working with the departments of Justice, State and Defense, the task force will "detect, deter and disrupt any attempt to illegally import or produce HFCs in the United States,'' the White House said in a fact sheet.
Joseph Goffman, a top official with EPA's air and radiation office, said the experience of the European Union shows that enforcement is an important part of an HFC crackdown.
“Unfortunately, (the EU) has experienced a lot of illegal activity” on HFC imports and other issues, Goffman said. “We're going to be vigorous and proactive" in trying to stop illegal imports, he said.
Biden issued an executive order in January that embraces a 2016 amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution. That amendment calls for the United States and other large industrialized countries to reduce HFCs by 85% by 2036. The State Department has prepared documents for formal ratification of the amendment, but the White House has not submitted them to the Senate.
McCarthy insisted "there is no hold up'' on the amendment, but said she did not know when Biden would submit the matter to the Senate.
Matthew Daly, The Associated Press
