The Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) and the Automotive Refrigeration Products Institute (ARPI) filed a lawsuit on Dec. 22, 2010 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging a significant new use rule (SNUR) issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
According to the AAIA and ARPI, the SNUR will prevent consumers from using a new automotive refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, to perform maintenance on their own vehicle air conditioners. AAIA and ARPI’s petition claims that restrictions on consumer use are neither necessary nor are they supported by health and safety data.
The ARPI and AAIA petition charged that the information EPA used in issuing the final SNUR was based on an entirely new risk assessment, and data first not made available for review comment by interested parties prior to the time the SNUR was issued, and therefore is a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. The petition further argues that EPA’s conclusions about the risks of 1234yf were based on a variety of implausible and unwarranted assumptions that led to unnecessary restrictions on the ability of individual consumers to service and maintain systems that utilize the new refrigerant.
Aside from the legal basis for the appeal, ARPI/AAIA believe strongly that HFO-1234yf is a promising new tool in the fight against ozone-depletion and global warming, and is safe for use by non-certified technicians and consumers servicing their vehicles. ARPI/AAIA wishes to eliminate unwarranted restrictions on the use of HFO-1234yf that will prevent car owners from repairing their vehicle's air conditioning system. ARPI/AAIA are also concerned that restrictions on the use of the new refrigerant will delay and impede the retrofitting of older ozone-depleting vehicle refrigerant systems and the retirement of less environmentally sustainable refrigerant systems as quickly as possible.
