Zeldin says EPA providing 'flexibility' by loosening rules for pollutants used in grocery refrigeration
Key takeaways
- Under the new EPA rule unveiled on Wednesday, supermarkets can use hydrofluorocarbons that are up to 1,400 times as potent as carbon dioxide until 2032.
- As a result, Zeldin said, refrigeration costs have risen for smaller groceries — particularly when they need to replace a broken part.
- If you have a part that goes down, if you need something serviced, if you need a supply, we believe that you should just be able to fix that part, rather than being required to get a whole new system, he said.
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
Under the new EPA rule unveiled on Wednesday, supermarkets can use hydrofluorocarbons that are up to 1,400 times as potent as carbon dioxide until 2032. The rule also eased restrictions on cold storage warehouses, semiconductor manufacturing and refrigerated transportation.
Zeldin said on CNN s State of the Union that the EPA s focus is on implementing the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, a bipartisan law that President Trump signed in 2020 and intended to phase down the use of the aforementioned refrigerants.
The last administration went with a very aggressive timetable, more aggressive than what the law had required and after members of Congress had debated, deliberated on what would be the right phase-out, he told host Jake Tapper.