EPA Puts Off Refrigerant Leak Proposal Till Mid-2008

MICHAEL GARRY

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, plans to issue a long-expected notice of proposed rulemaking in regard to federal regulations governing refrigeration leak repairs in the late spring or early summer of 2008, according to Julius Banks, the EPA’s national recycling and emissions reduction program manager. Those regulations, under which retailers are required to repair, replace or retrofit their refrigeration system within 30 days if they have an annual leak rate of 35% or more for ozone-depleting refrigerants, “could use revamping,” said Banks, who spoke Monday at the Food Marketing Institute’s Energy & Technical Services Conference here. At last year’s FMI Energy Conference, Banks said proposed regulation changes, which appeared to be in the offing in 2007, would include lowering the 35% leak rate maximum for retailers. The delay in the rulemaking notice until mid-2008 surprised Frank Remsburg, director of engineering, environmental and energy properties, Meijer, Grand Rapids, Mich. “It’s a big worry for us,” he said.

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