U.S. EPA Seeks Disclosure, Penalties in Nevada Refrigerants Inc. Case
12 May 1998
U.S. EPA Seeks Disclosure, Penalties in Nevada Refrigerants Inc. Case
SAN FRANCISCO, May 11 -- The U.S. Department of Justice,
acting on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), today
announced that it has served a legal complaint on Nevada Refrigerants, Inc.
(NRI) for violations of the Clean Air Act involving failure to disclose
information on its sales of HC-12a(R), a flammable refrigerant banned in 1995
for all uses except industrial process refrigeration. The complaint seeks
penalties of up to $25,000 per day, and an order from the U.S. District Court
in Nevada requiring NRI to submit data to U.S. EPA about its customers and
sales of HC-12a(R).
In March 1997, after NRI refused to provide HC-12a(R) sales information,
U.S. EPA issued an administrative order demanding the information. NRI still
has not complied with the order. U.S. EPA's complaint alleges that NRI
violated federal law by refusing to provide its HC-12a(R) sales information,
and by failing to comply with the order. U.S. EPA needs this information to
investigate and halt the illegal use of HC-12a(R) by vehicle repair shops
which obtained the product from NRI.
The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 banned the production of
chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) because they deplete the stratospheric ozone layer
that protects life on earth from ultraviolet radiation. In June 1995, U.S. EPA
specifically banned HC-12a(R) as a replacement for CFC-12, also known as
Freon-12, in motor vehicle air conditioners. In addition to HC-12a(R), other
flammable refrigerants sold under the names Duracool, or EC-12a, are also
prohibited by EPA as CFC-12 replacements for all uses except industrial
process refrigeration.
HC-12a(R) and similar products are flammable hydrocarbon blends. They were
banned as a CFC replacements for vehicle air conditioning systems and
transport refrigeration because it can be unsafe to use a flammable
refrigerant in a system not specifically designed for that type of
refrigerant. Truck and auto repair shops that service air conditioners and
other refrigeration and air conditioning equipment should be aware that the
Clean Air Act requires U.S. EPA to evaluate substitutes for CFC-12 refrigerant
to determine whether such substitutes are acceptable, from a health and safety
standpoint. If U.S. EPA determines that a substitute is unacceptable, its use
in vehicles, air conditioning and certain other applications is illegal.
Further information is available by calling U.S. EPA's Stratospheric Ozone
Hotline, at 800-296-1996, or through U.S. EPA's publication "Questions and
Answers On Alternative Refrigerants," on U.S. EPA's Internet site:
http://www.epa.gov/spdpublc/title6/snap/ref.html
SOURCE U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
