Carper Statement on District Court Decision Blocking EPA’s Actions on HFCs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the below statement following the D.C. District Court of Appeals 2-1 decision striking down an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that restricts the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and is used in refrigerators, air conditioners and industrial applications. EPA’s 2015 rule worked to comply with the international Montreal Protocol, amended just last year, to phase-down HFCs, which have an extremely high global warming potential.

“I am deeply disappointed by the D.C. District Court’s decision to hamstring EPA’s ability to phase down our use of HFCs. The United States has an obligation under the Montreal Protocol to do our part in phasing out HFCs, which exacerbate the effects of climate change. U.S. companies are already world leaders in developing and producing HFC alternatives that are safe for the ozone and help create good-paying jobs here at home. Now is not the time to pull on the reins and stymie the economic growth being created by American ingenuity in combating climate change. I appreciate EPA’s continued efforts to comply with the Montreal Protocol, and I look forward to working with this administration and my colleagues in Congress to continue moving us away from HFCs and toward smarter alternatives.”

In 2007, Senator Carper sponsored legislative language that was included in the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill that was the first-of-its-kind to address the harmful impact of HFCs. That original language has been included in similar climate change legislation since and encouraged the Obama administration to work multilaterally and domestically through the Clean Air Act to curb the use of harmful HFCs.

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