Southeastern Grocers Settles With EPA for $4.2 Million

Southeastern Grocers Inc. (SEG) of Jacksonville, Fla., and its subsidiaries, Bi-Lo LLC, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Fresco y Mas and Harveys—have agreed to reduce emissions of potent ozone depleting gases from refrigeration equipment at 576 stores under a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, according to a release from the EPA.

Under the settlement, SEG will pay an estimated $4.2 million over the next three years to reduce coolant leaks from refrigerators and other equipment and improve companywide compliance. SEG will also pay a $300,000 civil penalty.

The United States alleged that SEG violated the Clean Air Act by failing to promptly repair leaks of Class I and Class II refrigerants, ozone-depleting substances used as coolants in refrigerators. SEG also failed to keep adequate servicing records of its refrigeration equipment and failed to provide information about its compliance record.

“Through this settlement, Southeastern Grocers will implement concrete steps to reduce leaks of ozone depleting gases from the refrigeration equipment in their stores,” Susan Bodine, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a release. “These steps will not only help to prevent damage to the environment, but should also help save energy.”

“This consent decree will help assure SEG’s future compliance with the Clean Air Act’s ozone-depletion program by requiring leak monitoring, centralized computer record keeping and searchable electronic reporting to the EPA,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement.

SEG will now implement a corporate refrigerant compliance management system to comply with federal stratospheric ozone regulations and to detect and repair leaks through a new bimonthly leak monitoring program. In addition, SEG will achieve and maintain an annual corporatewide average leak rate of 17% through 2022, well below the grocery store sector average of 25%. SEG must also use non-ozone depleting advanced refrigerants at all new stores and an additional 15 existing, non-advanced refrigerant stores.

EPA regulations issued under the Clean Air Act require that owners or operators of commercial refrigeration equipment that contain over 50 pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerants repair any leaks within 30 days. Damage to the ozone layer results in dangerous amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet solar radiation, increasing skin cancers and cataracts. An added benefit of repairing refrigerant leaks is improved energy efficiency of the system, which can save electricity.

The settlement is the fourth in a series of national grocery store refrigerant cases, including cases previously filed against Safeway Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Trader Joe’s Co.

The settlement was lodged Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.