EPA Sets Allowances for 2012-14 Imports & Exports of HCFCs

The Environmental Protection Agency set production and consumption allowances for hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) for 2012-2014 in a final rule. The rule implements a 2009 ruling of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Arkema, Inc. v. EPA that said an accelerated schedule for elimination of production and use of HCFCs was impermissibly retroactive (see ). The final rule reduces consumption allowances, which allow production or import, of HCFC-22; raises production allowances for both HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b; and maintains consumption allowances for HCFC-142b at about their current levels.