The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a settlement with Resonac America Inc. to address the company’s illegal import of HFCs at the Port of Los Angeles on four occasions in 2023 and 2024. Resonac America, which is a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Resonac Corporation, will pay a penalty of $416,003 and destroy 1,693 pounds of HFCs to resolve EPA’s allegations of violations.

“EPA continues to prioritize enforcement against companies that illegally import refrigerants that damage our climate and imperil future generations,” said David M. Uhlmann, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This case is the largest penalty imposed to date for importing super-polluting HFCs as part of EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative on Mitigating Climate Change — and the first to require the company to destroy the HFCs.”

On three separate occasions – in October, November, and December 2023 – Resonac America imported a total of 6,208 pounds of illegal HFCs into the United States at the Port of Los Angeles. These imports violated the prohibition on importing bulk regulated substances into the U.S. without possessing sufficient consumption or application-specific allowances at the time of import. Resonac America also failed to give EPA the required notice of planned shipments of HFCs for the 2023 shipments and a February 2024 shipment, as well as failed to timely submit reports to the EPA with information on HFCs that the company imported in the first and second quarters of 2023.

Resonac America imported R-23, which has a 100-year global warming potential of 14,800. This enforcement action prevented approximately 6,208 pounds, or 2.816 metric tons, of illegal HFCs from being imported into the U.S. If released into the atmosphere, these HFCs are the equivalent of 41,676.8 metric tons of CO₂, or the same amount of CO₂ produced from powering 8,225 homes with electricity for a year.

In response to the Kigali Amendment, Congress passed the AIM Act, requiring the United States to phase down HFC production and consumption by 85% by 2036. EPA has made it a national enforcement and compliance priority to address the illegal import of HFCs under the current phasedown and has settled numerous cases over the last several months with companies regarding HFC imports. Since January 2022, EPA and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have denied entry to approximately 81 shipments of illegal HFCs. Under EPA’s HFC phasedown regulations, importers must expend allowances to import HFCs. Illegal imports of HFCs undermine the phasedown, disadvantage companies who follow the rules, and contribute to global warming.

“This is the latest in a series of EPA HFC enforcement efforts nationwide, which send a clear message that the federal government is vigilantly monitoring imports of HFCs and will hold illegal actors accountable,” noted Martha Guzman, Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator at EPA.

If you suspect someone is illegally importing HFCs, tell the EPA at its Report Environmental Violations website. Information submitted will be forwarded to EPA environmental enforcement personnel or the appropriate regulatory authority.