Court Restores Limits on Climate-Polluting HFCs
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today ruled that the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency acted illegally in suspending the agency’s limits on the uses of super climate-polluting hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The court restored a prohibition on switching from ozone depleting substances to HFCs in uses such as large refrigeration systems in supermarkets.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and a coalition of states led by New York sued EPA in 2018 to restore the prohibition.
The following is a statement from Peter DeMarco, attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council:
“This is an important victory for our climate. The court’s decision restores common-sense restrictions on HFC use that EPA had illegally removed. EPA must ensure that as companies complete their transition away from ozone-depleting substances, they switch to alternatives safer than climate-polluting HFCs.”
This is NRDC’s 60th legal victory against the Trump administration’s rollbacks and efforts to undermine environmental safeguards.
The court’s decision is here: https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/60819211428AA9358525854300528C43/$file/18-1172-1837000.pdf
For more, see this blog by NRDC staff attorney Lissa Lynch: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lissa-lynch/nrdc-sues-epa-revoking-court-approved-limits-hfcs
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.