Chemicals Producer Pays $400,000 to Settle Alleged Illegal HFC Imports
The American subsidiary of a Japanese chemical and industrial materials producer will pay about $416,000 to settle charges that it illegally imported hydrofluorocarbons, EPA announced March 21. The agency said Resonac America Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Resonac Corp., illegally imported 6,208 pounds of HFCs on three separate occasions in 2023 at the Port of Los Angeles, and it failed to notify EPA about another shipment that was planned for February.
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The fine is the “largest penalty imposed to date” against a company for importing “super-polluting” HFCs as part of EPA's initiative to prioritize climate-related enforcement, said David Uhlmann, assistant administrator for the agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. He also said the settlement is the first to require the company to destroy the imported HFCs.
“EPA continues to prioritize enforcement against companies that illegally import refrigerants that damage our climate and imperil future generations,” Uhlmann said.
The agency said Resonac’s first three shipments, imported in October, November and December, violated restrictions on importing “bulk regulated substances” into the U.S. without “sufficient consumption or application-specific allowances.” Resonac also “failed to timely submit reports” to notify EPA about those three shipments and the most recent one in February. Along with the fine, the settlement requires Resonac to destroy more than 1,693 pounds of HFCs.
The agency said HFCs are a “super climate pollutant with global warming potentials hundreds to thousands of times higher than CO2.” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said the penalty sends a “clear message that the federal government is vigilantly monitoring imports of HFCs and will hold illegal actors accountable.”
Since January 2022, EPA and CBP have denied 81 illegally imported HFCs. “Under EPA’s HFC phasedown regulations, importers must expend allowances to import HFCs,” EPA said. “Illegal imports of HFCs undermine the phasedown, disadvantage companies who follow the rules, and contribute to global warming.”
A Resonac spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.