On October 19, 2023, the EPA issued a proposed rule titled Phasedown of Hydrofluorocarbons: Management of Certain Hydrofluorocarbons and Substitutes under Subsection (h) of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (88 FR 72216). For additional information on the proposed rule and supporting documents, please visit https://www.epa.gov/climate-hfcs-reduction/management-certain-hydrofluorocarbons-and-substitutes-under-subsection-h.
The rulemaking proposes the following requirements:
- Leak repair provisions for certain appliances;
- Use of automatic leak detection for certain new and existing equipment;
- A proposed reclamation standard;
- Use of reclaimed HFCs for certain types of equipment in certain refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump (RACHP) subsectors and use of recycled HFCs in fire suppression equipment;
- Certain provisions for equipment in the fire suppression sector, including technician training;
- Recovery of HFCs from disposable cylinders, prior to disposal;
- Container tracking for HFCs that could be used in the servicing, repair, and/or installation of refrigerant-containing equipment or fire suppression equipment;
- Recordkeeping, reporting, and labeling; and
- Alternative recycling criteria for ignitable used refrigerants, including some HFCs and their equivalents, under the authority of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
On November 2, 2023, the EPA will host a virtual public hearing using Microsoft Teams to provide an opportunity for any interested persons to offer oral comments on the proposed rule and related support documents (e.g., regulatory impact analysis). The virtual public hearing is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT, but may end early if there are no remaining interested persons present who wish to provide oral comment.
Please use this link to pre-register for the virtual public hearing by 11/1/2023.
Each stakeholder who wishes to provide oral comments on the proposed rule will be allotted three to five minutes to speak. The EPA will not respond to comments or questions during the hearing, other than addressing procedural questions as appropriate.
The 60-day public comment period for this proposed rule will close on December 18, 2023. You may review the proposed rule for further information on how to comment. You are able to view the public docket at regulations.gov by searching Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0606.
