EPA slashes regulations on refrigerants finalized during Biden-era

By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square

The Environmental Protection Agency is slashing some regulations on refrigerants finalized in the Biden-era in an effort it says will reduce grocery costs for Americans and compliance costs for businesses.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the move would save American families more than $2.4 billion.

“It’s safeguarding 350,000 jobs. Just at supermarkets alone, we’re going to see a savings of $800 million, which Americans will be able to see when they go and buy their food,” Zeldin said Thursday.

The agency said it will amend two rules finalized under the Biden administration as part of its implementation of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020.

The AIM Act was included in a larger omnibus spending package that passed Congress with broad bipartisan support during Trump’s first term. It directed the EPA to reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons by 85% by 2036.

Hydrofluorocarbons are potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerants in refrigerators and air conditioners, and they’re meant to stay within the sealed, closed-loop systems of the appliances. But with damage or wear, those appliances can leak or release HFCs into the atmosphere, where they can trap more heat than carbon dioxide.

The Biden-Harris 2023 Technology Transitions Rule required companies to switch to different refrigerants for residential air conditioning and ammonia or carbon dioxide for supermarket and cold storage refrigeration equipment.

The AIM Act still requires the reduction of HFCs, but the Trump administration is pushing back the compliance deadlines for “a number of subsectors, including residential air conditioning, retail food refrigeration, cold storage warehouses and semiconductor manufacturing,” according to an EPA press release.

The new rule will “balance the AIM Act mandated phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons with ensuring American families have access to functioning air conditioning systems,” a news release reads. “In doing so, businesses will be able to install the refrigerators systems that work best for them and companies can continue making semiconductor chips that power everyday life.”

The Trump administration also plans to amend the 2024 Emissions Reduction and Reclamation program to exclude refrigerated trucks and transport equipment from tighter HFC leak restrictions.

At an event Thursday where the changes were announced, those present – including executives from major grocery chains like Kroger and Piggly Wiggly – were asked if the public could be confident that any savings would be passed on to consumers.

“We’re actually right in the middle of doing that at the moment,” said Kroger CEO Greg Foran. “We’re concerned about the cost of living. It makes a big difference when you get your pricing right, and we certainly are interested in ensuring that all our customers right across the country are paying the right price.”

Trump assured attendees that there wouldn’t be “any impact on the environment.”

Others were not as optimistic and say that the rollback will harm both the environment and the economy.

The 2023 rule “had the potential to avoid emissions equivalent to hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide between now and 2050,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The council’s senior strategist for climate, David Doniger, also said in a statement that the amended rules would not noticeably affect grocery prices.

“The White House paints this as a way to address affordability; it is not,” Doniger said. “The affordability crisis is very real and deserves real solutions, rather than thinly veiled environmental rollbacks that leave the United States stuck with outdated technologies of the past.”

Because the deadline to stop producing new air conditioning and heat pump systems with the traditional refrigerant was more than a year ago (Jan. 1, 2025), major players in the industry have already transitioned to different refrigerants. Some have said that the regulation whiplash will cost the industry and those who rely deeply on its products, like grocery stores.

“This rule works against basic supply and demand,” said Stephen Yurek, president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute. “By extending the compliance deadline, the EPA is maintaining and even increasing demand in the market for existing refrigerants while supply continues to fall under the AIM Act. So, instead of falling, refrigerant prices are likely to rise, resulting in higher service costs, and higher costs for consumers.”