Chemical Co. Fined For Unlawful R-23 Imports

The U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) not too long ago introduced a settlement with Resonac America Inc. to handle the corporate’s unlawful import of HFCs on the Port of Los Angeles on 4 events in 2023 and 2024. Resonac America, which is a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Resonac Company, pays a penalty of $416,003 and destroy 1,693 kilos of HFCs to resolve EPA’s allegations of violations.

“EPA continues to prioritize enforcement towards firms that illegally import refrigerants that injury our local weather and imperil future generations,” stated David M. Uhlmann, assistant administrator for EPA’s Workplace of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This case is the biggest penalty imposed thus far for importing super-polluting HFCs as a part of EPA’s Nationwide Enforcement and Compliance Initiative on Mitigating Local weather Change — and the primary to require the corporate to destroy the HFCs.”

On three separate events – in October, November, and December 2023 – Resonac America imported a complete of 6,208 kilos of unlawful HFCs into america on the Port of Los Angeles. These imports violated the prohibition on importing bulk regulated substances into the U.S. with out possessing enough consumption or application-specific allowances on the time of import. Resonac America additionally failed to present EPA the required discover of deliberate shipments of HFCs for the 2023 shipments and a February 2024 cargo, in addition to didn’t well timed submit stories to the EPA with data on HFCs that the corporate imported within the first and second quarters of 2023.

Resonac America imported R-23, which has a 100-year world warming potential of 14,800. This enforcement motion prevented roughly 6,208 kilos, or 2.816 metric tons, of unlawful HFCs from being imported into the U.S. If launched into the ambiance, these HFCs are the equal of 41,676.8 metric tons of CO₂, or the identical quantity of CO₂ produced from powering 8,225 houses with electrical energy for a 12 months.

In response to the Kigali Modification, Congress handed the AIM Act, requiring america to part down HFC manufacturing and consumption by 85% by 2036. EPA has made it a nationwide enforcement and compliance precedence to handle the unlawful import of HFCs underneath the present phasedown and has settled quite a few circumstances during the last a number of months with firms relating to HFC imports. Since January 2022, EPA and Customs and Border Safety (CBP) have denied entry to roughly 81 shipments of unlawful HFCs. Beneath EPA’s HFC phasedown laws, importers should expend allowances to import HFCs. Unlawful imports of HFCs undermine the phasedown, drawback firms who observe the principles, and contribute to world warming.

“That is the newest in a sequence of EPA HFC enforcement efforts nationwide, which ship a transparent message that the federal authorities is vigilantly monitoring imports of HFCs and can maintain unlawful actors accountable,” famous Martha Guzman, Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator at EPA.

Should you suspect somebody is illegally importing HFCs, inform the EPA at its Report Environmental Violations web site. Info submitted will likely be forwarded to EPA environmental enforcement personnel or the suitable regulatory authority.