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U.S. EPA SEEKS DISCLOSURE, PENALTIES IN NEVADA REFRIGERANTS INC. CASE

Release Date: 5/11/1998
Contact Information: Dave Schmidt, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1578

     (San Francisco)--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 , 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.

     In March 1997, after NRI refused to provide HC-12a  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  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  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  as a replacement for CFC-12, also known as Freon-12, in motor vehicle air conditioners.    In addition to HC-12a , 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  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  1-800-296-1996, or through U.S. EPA's publication "Questions and Answers On Alternative Refrigerants," on U.S. EPA's Internet site:
< https://www.epa.gov/spdpublc/title6/snap/ref.html >