AHRI presses court to fast-track EPA refrigerant rule challenge

AHRI is asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to speed up review of an EPA rule that extended deadlines for certain retail equipment to transition away from higher-GWP refrigerants.

Catch up quick: The EPA in May made several changes to the Technology Transitions rule, a key provision of the HFC phasedown, including removing a deadline that had prohibited the installation of many residential and light commercial R-410A systems after Jan. 1, 2026, allowing existing inventory to be installed indefinitely. 

• But for new retail remote condensing units and supermarket systems, it pushed back deadlines — from 2026/2027 to 2032 — by which they would generally be subject to 150- or 300-GWP limits, and established an interim GWP limit of 1,400.
• In June, AHRI and the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy asked the court to vacate the commercial refrigeration portions of the rule, arguing that manufacturers had invested heavily for years to meet the earlier deadlines and that the extension was “arbitrary and capricious.”

What’s happening: The EPA’s updated rule was published on May 26 and made effective July 27. In an Aug. 18 motion, AHRI argued the rule took effect too soon, as the AIM Act requires a one-year period between a rule’s publication and its effective date. (The EPA contends that the AIM’s one-year waiting period does not apply, because the rule provides relief from existing HFC restrictions rather than imposing new ones.) 

• The association says its members are already facing nonrecoverable costs and has proposed that the court fast-track its June challenge, with oral arguments in December.

Why it matters: “Delaying the industry’s ongoing refrigerant transition now will impose significant costs on U.S. manufacturers in the form of duplicative product lines, dual inventories, re-certifications, and retraining, which costs will be passed on to American consumers,” the filing says.

The big picture: The AIM Act, passed in 2020, authorized the EPA to issue the Technology Transitions rule, which facilitates the transition to next-generation refrigerants. Another part of the law phases down total HFC production and consumption through an allowance system.

• AHRI, along with ACCA, HARDI, and PHCC, argue that allowing higher-GWP refrigerants to be used longer under the updated Technology Transitions rule, while supply declines under the allowance system, will put upward pressure on refrigerant prices across the industry, including the residential segment, as Homepros has reported. 

The other side: EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in May that the rule changes “allow businesses to choose the refrigeration systems that work best for them, saving them billions of dollars.”

• The EPA has also disagreed with suggestions that it should align the Technology Transitions dates with the HFC phasedown schedule, saying the two are “two distinct subsections, each with their own direction and authority.”

Of note: ACCA, HARDI, and PHCC have filed a separate lawsuit challenging the rule change, as did a coalition of 18 states, along with Washington, D.C., and New York City. Five cases have been consolidated. 

• Supermarket industry groups, however, have largely supported the changes.