Re: Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Update to the Refrigerant Management Requirements Under the Clean Air Act

Transcription

1 Mr. Luke Hall-Jordan Stratospheric Protection Division Office of Atmospheric Programs US Environmental Protection Agency Mail Code 6205T 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC Attn: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR Re: Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Update to the Refrigerant Management Requirements Under the Clean Air Act Mr. Hall-Jordan: I am writing on behalf of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy ( Alliance ) to provide comments regarding EPA s Proposed Rule on Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Update to the Refrigerant Management Requirements Under the Clean Air Act. 80 Fed. Reg (November 9, 2015). The Alliance is an industry coalition organized in 1980 to address the issue of stratospheric ozone depletion. It is the leading voice of manufacturers, businesses and trade associations who make or use fluorinated gases for the global market. Today, Alliance member companies are leading the development of safe, efficient, next-generation, climate- and ozone-friendly technologies and applications. According to a recent study, the US fluorocarbon using and producing industries contribute more than $158 billion annually in goods and services to the US economy, and provide employment to more than 700,000 individuals with an industry-wide payroll of more than $32 billion. The Alliance represents companies across several sectors engaged in the development of economically and environmentally beneficial international and domestic policies regarding fluorinated gases. A list of members is attached. The Alliance is proud to continue its long history of working in a positive manner with EPA on the protection of stratospheric ozone and the mitigation of climate change. In January 2014, the Alliance submitted a petition to EPA to extend provisions of Section 608 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The following month, the Alliance 2111 WILSON BOULEVARD, 8TH FLOOR, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA Phone: Fax: Web:

2 Page 2 announced its support for the negotiation under the Montreal Protocol of an HFC amendment, which is both environmentally and economically beneficial. While an amendment to phasedown the production and consumption of HFCs can address new uses, proper refrigerant management remains a critical complementary action to address emissions from the installed base. As the Alliance indicated in its 2014 petition, approximately two-thirds of HFC emissions are estimated to occur as a result of commercial refrigeration and mobile air conditioning system leaks and service practice. The proposed rule could repeat the success of Section 608 in addressing emissions of ozone-depleting substance (ODS), by promoting the proper management as well as the recovery and reclamation of ODS alternative refrigerants. In order to supplement these policy tools to promote refrigerant management, the Alliance has actively supported industry-led efforts to advance this goal. These efforts include working with industry partners to establish the Global Refrigerant Management Initiative in September 2014 and, most recently, the launch of a reclaimed HFC credit bank in October The Alliance commends EPA staff on its commitment to an effective process of stakeholder consultation. Although it is understood that the current action is not proposed solely as response to the Alliance s petition, the Alliance appreciates EPA s public recognition of the importance of the petition and the hosting of stakeholder engagement opportunities on the topic of refrigerant management over the last two years. The Alliance is generally supportive of the proposed rule. It will be important, however, that EPA takes into account the challenges faced by industry stakeholders in the field and to improve upon any shortcomings of past refrigerant management policies. Many member companies will submit individual comments; however, as a whole, the Alliance offers the following considerations. Enforcement The enforcement of policies and regulations is critical to the achievement of their objectives. The Alliance supports the comprehensive strategy within the Next Generation Compliance initiative and encourages EPA to continue to identify cost-effective means of ensuring that the entire regulated community supports and follows lawful policies and regulations. Technician Certification The Alliance supports the required testing of technicians for initial certification and periodic recertification. Certification should place greater focus on venting prohibitions, the use of flammable alternatives, the danger of mixing refrigerants and recovery best practices. Recertification could be achieved through an abbreviated online test, to include only questions relevant to the servicing of ODS alternative refrigerants. EPA could work with private sector partners to offer recertification assistance.

3 Page 3 EPA should also require reclaimers to participate in a third party certification program and require all reclaimed refrigerant to be certified as reclaimed by a refrigerant testing laboratory certified pursuant to a third party laboratory certification program. Currently the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute operates both a Certified Reclamation Certification Program and a Refrigerant Testing Laboratory Program that could be used as models for such required certification programs. Admittedly, no other organization operates similar certification programs. In order to avoid EPA endorsing any specific program, EPA could propose requiring such certification only after two or more independent certification programs have been approved by EPA. The Alliance supports the development of a comprehensive database, or list, of certified technicians. This database should be held by EPA and made publicly available online. Any such database must be current at all times to allow for verification of certification. The Alliance recommends that EPA establish through a future rulemaking a technician certification requirement for flammable or hazardous refrigerants. This requirement would ensure that technicians are adequately trained to safely service products with flammable or hazardous refrigerants and reduce confusion that could result in accidental release of non-hc refrigerants. Leak Detection and Repair As a principle, the Alliance supports leak detection and repair requirements of all refrigerants, fluorinated and non-fluorinated, which minimize leaks and encourage repairs to be made as soon as possible. California s experience with refrigerant management policies should inform EPA s own rulemaking in the area of leak detection and repair. The Alliance supports leak inspections as a proactive means of identifying leaks reducing refrigerant emissions and ensuring maintenance of system energy efficiency. The Alliance supports the lowering of leak rates for commercial appliances and industrial processing refrigeration as well as comfort cooling appliances. EPA should explore the feasibility of further lowering the commercial and industrial process refrigeration leak rate in the future, consistent with improved and available industry best practices. EPA should differentiate between catastrophic equipment failure e and a chronic leak over time as well as between major fixable leaks and minor unfixable leaks. The Alliance supports EPA s proposal to exempt the addition of refrigerants due to seasonal variances from the leak repair requirements. However, EPA should clarify the recordkeeping requirements for such seasonal variances. The Alliance disagrees with the proposal to preclude the addition of refrigerant in equipment that is known to be leaking as it would conflict with other aspects of the proposed rule to allow or promote the development of a repair plan and delivery time for equipment.

4 Page 4 The Alliance believes that unless properly structured a corporate average limit on leaks could make it less likely to identify leaks and negate the effectiveness of the rule. Section (j) requires appliances that exceed the leak rate for two years to be immediately retired. This would cause extreme hardship for many facilities, as chemical processes are dependent on refrigeration units. The Alliance disagrees with this provision as the problem could be due to a single component that can be replaced instead of replacing the entire appliance. Some form of a delay of repair provision is needed for industrial process refrigeration units. Industrial processes cannot rapidly replace or extensively repair equipment. For equipment that needs to be retired, a retirement plan would need to be developed, a replacement designed, engineered and installed within the current industrial process. For replacement equipment, it is not always possible for facilities to obtain a replacement part within 30 days. A better alternative would be for facilities to develop a repair plan if an appliance leaked more than 75 percent of a full charge in a 12-month period. That plan would spell out the replacement details in the event that the leak fix was not effective, rather than requiring an immediate shutdown upon discovery. The Alliance strongly prefers to have the option to repair major leaks regardless of the threshold value or the time period upon which it is based. Often it is much more economical to make major repairs than to replace the entire unit. One solution could be to submit a notification and documentation that the leak(s) was/were catastrophic and could not have been prevented. The Alliance supports the allowance for multiple repairs within a 30 day repair window. EPA should also consider including some exemptions to the 75 percent charge replacement rate, such as vandalism, acts of nature, accidental damage from external forces, unrelated component strikes the machine, and other items that are considered unrelated to the overall integrity of the machine. Recovery As noted by EPA in the preamble to the proposed rule, certain refrigerants, particularly flammable products, may constitute hazardous waste which would, in effect, prevent any contractor from recovering and transporting such recovered refrigerant, and would prevent reclaimers from receiving, processing and reclaiming such refrigerant. At the time of enactment of the original 608 rules, EPA also enacted rules under RCRA that specifically exempted used CFCs from being classified as hazardous waste to ensure that used CFCs would be able to be reclaimed. The Alliance strongly believes EPA must implement a blanket exemption for all used/recovered refrigerants (excluding ammonia) from the definition of hazardous waste so as not to frustrate the purpose of these regulations.

5 Page 5 Relevant Standards The Alliance strongly encourages EPA to incorporate the AHRI 700 standard, and specifically to incorporate the most current standard, as it changes from time to time, rather than to adopt the standard at any point in time. The AHRI 700 standard is continually reviewed, updated and revised to establish a purity standard for each new substitute refrigerants as they are developed and approved. If the EPA establishes a standard for reclaimed refrigerant based upon the current AHRI 700 standard, then as additional substitutes are developed, the industry will be placed in the untenable position of having to deal with regulations requiring the reclamation of these new refrigerants but without any EPA required standard for these new substitutes. The 608 regulation needs to be updated as the AHRI 700 standard is updated. Relationship to CAA Sec. 609 The Alliance s 2014 petition was not intended to request that the provisions of CAA Section 609 also be extended to alternatives to class I and II ODS. The motor vehicle air-conditioning (MVAC) sector faces its own unique challenges. Efforts to pursue environmental objectives in that sector must be considered apart from conditions in the stationary air-conditioning sector. With regards to the small cans of refrigerant for MVAC servicing, the Alliance supports their exemption from sales restrictions when a self-sealing valve is affixed. This was a successful measure in California s policy that can be replicated at the federal level. For those cans without self-sealing valves, the Alliance encourages EPA to implement a mandatory manufacturethrough compliance date rather than a sell-through compliance date. This was the approach chosen by EPA to address aerosols in its SNAP change of listing status rule finalized in July 2015 and should also be applied to MVAC-focused small cans. Additional Considerations The Alliance notes that it may be necessary for EPA to clarify which substances are to be targeted by this rulemaking. While the Alliance s 2014 petition envisioned alternatives to class I and class II ozone-depleting chemicals as HFCs, EPA in its proposed rule, likely in recognition of the listing actions which have taken place since under the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program, refers to non-ozone-depleting substitute refrigerants, including but not limited to HFCs and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). In reference to venting prohibitions, the Alliance has publicly stated that regulations or restrictions on refrigerants should be adopted as appropriate to each type of refrigerant (Alliance comments on Proposed Rule on Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Listing of Substitutes for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning and Revision of the Venting Prohibition for Certain Refrigerant Substitutes. 79 Fed. Reg (July 9, 2014)). The Alliance believes that EPA should revise the language in the final rule to define a substitute to mean any substance other than a class I and II ozone-depleting substances that functions as a refrigerant, to include HFCs, PFCs, HFOs, hydrofluoroethers and HCs.

6 Page 6 As a final suggestion, the Alliance submits that any policy measure should be assessed based on the following factors: Technical feasibility, Ease of implementation, Ease of enforcement, and Anticipated o Environmental Impacts, and o Economic Impacts on Consumers, Small businesses (including contractors, distributors, and retailers), and Industry While the Alliance supports concerted global action to avoid significant future growth in the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of HFCs in their various applications, it is important that measures to address current emissions from the installed base are afforded equal, if not greater, priority. Refrigerant management policies, which include policies that encourage the recovery and re-use of all refrigerants, and particularly refrigerants which can be ozonedepleting and/or have high global warming potentials., will be key to realizing the full environmental objective of an HFC phase-down amendment under the Montreal Protocol. The Alliance remains available to assist EPA staff as it finalizes this proposal. The Alliance appreciates the opportunity to provide input on EPA s proposed rule and looks forward to working with the agency in a constructive manner to achieve and implement an environmentally beneficial, safety enhancing, and economically viable rule. Sincerely, Kevin Fay Executive Director Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy

7 Members AGC Chemicals Americas A-Gas/RemTec Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute Airgas American Pacific Corp. Arkema Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers Auto Care Association Bard Manufacturing Company BASF Brooks Automation, Inc. Cap & Seal Company Carrier Corporation Center for the Polyurethanes Industry Chemours Combs Gas Consolidated Refrigerant Solutions Daikin Applied Danfoss Dynatemp International Emerson Climate Technologies E.V. Dunbar Co. Extruded Polystyrene Foam Association Falcon Safety Products FP International Golden Refrigerant Halon Alternatives Research Corporation Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International Honeywell Hudson Technologies Hussmann ICOR International IDQ Holdings Ingersoll-Rand International Pharmaceutical Aerosol Consortium Johnson Controls Lennox International Metl-Span Corporation Mexichem Fluor Inc. Midwest Refrigerants Mitsubishi Electric National Refrigerants Owens Corning Specialty & Foam Products Center Rheem Manufacturing Company Ritchie Engineering Solvay Sub-Zero The Dow Chemical Company Whirlpool Corporation Worthington Cylinder 2111 WILSON BOULEVARD, 8TH FLOOR, ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA Phone: Fax: Web: