Bill would claw back Climate Act rules

 ALBANY — Regulations that took effect in January and govern the chemical compounds used in refrigeration systems and air conditioners are increasingly placing financial stress on residential customers as well as businesses that often face potentially crushing costs if they are forced to replace the cooling systems.

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In response, legislation that has bipartisan support at the state Capitol would require the state Department of Environmental Conservation to claw back the regulations it imposed under the provisions of the 2019 Climate Act, and instead align them with a federal law that does not require states to follow similar rules until 2036.

 

State Assemblyman William Conrad III, a Buffalo-area Democrat who is a member of the Energy and Environmental Conservation committees, is a lead sponsor of the legislation that would walk back New York’s restrictions on hydrofluorocarbons, which come in various forms and are notorious for contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. 

 

Conrad said he became aware of the potential fallout for consumers and business owners — especially small businesses — at a community forum in South Buffalo a couple years ago. He said a friend of his who owns a small grocery story said that the cost of upgrading his refrigeration systems to comply with the new regulations would put him out of business.

 

“I don’t want to put a burden on people who have existing systems that just needed, you know, a patch, to keep the life going,” Conrad said. “He’s got a small supermarket, and (small stores) are mostly in food deserts, in rural areas and as well as in the cities. He was saying, 'This will cost me $1 million. I can’t afford that. I’d probably close the store.'”

 

Assemblyman John T. McDonald III, a pharmacist and former mayor of Cohoes, also supports the legislation and said that not all of the provisions of the 2019 Climate Act — which set mandates on carbon emissions reductions — were intended to be implemented without consideration of the potential financial impacts on consumers, taxpayers, municipalities and businesses.

 

“As one who was on the floor (of the Assembly) when the (Climate Act) was passed, all the goals were aspirational, and it left a lot of authority to the Climate Action Council and the Department of Environmental Conservation to interpret and then regulate these processes,” McDonald said. “When I’ve talked to the DEC in the past, specifically on this issue, they’ll say, 'well, we’re just following the mandate of the Climate Act.' … But I had vigorous conversations with them, saying it wasn’t a mandate. … It was a well-intentioned good idea, because climate change is real, and we need to identify opportunities to change, with the caveat that we need to bring the public along.”

 

McDonald added that the “very good people, well-intentioned people, who are still advocates at heart, are not looking at the impact of all these changes and what they do to real people … the average person.”

 

New York’s crackdown on the ozone-depleting chemicals dates to 2018, when then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo directed the state Department of Environmental Conservation to promulgate regulations to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons. The regulations were intended to adopt U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policies that were being abandoned during President Donald J. Trump’s first administration.

 

 “While the Trump administration denies climate change and rolls back efforts to protect our planet, New York is picking up the mantle of climate leadership and forging a path forward,” Cuomo said at the time. “In New York we believe denial is not a life strategy, and we will continue to fight climate change to protect our economy, our planet and our future.”

 

In 2019, the rules were codified and honed under New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 85% reduction by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Those reductions include reducing hydrofluorocarbons and transitioning equipment to refrigerants that environmentalists say are less harmful to the atmosphere.

 

The regulations also prohibit specific substances for use in new consumer products, new equipment and equipment that is retrofitted after the compliance dates, including aerosol propellants, as well as commercial and residential food refrigeration equipment. The state’s phase out plan, which was implemented beginning in 2020, was expected to reduce hydrofluorocarbon emissions by more than 20% of projected levels by 2030.

 

The push by state lawmakers to dial back the mandates for hydrofluorocarbons comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul is urging the Legislature to agree to adjust the Climate Act’s mandates, citing already soaring utility costs that she said in the future could increase an average upstate household’s energy bill about $4,000 a year.

 

'More expensive'

Todd Danz, who runs a large family-owned HVAC company in Albany, Family Danz Heating and Cooling, said that the regulations governing hydrofluorocarbons, as well as other mandates regarding the electrification of buildings and vehicles, are driving up costs and starting to impact more consumers and businesses.

 

He said that changing the regulations to limit the chemicals used in heating and cooling systems has resulted in many people having equipment that cannot be fixed under the new regulations, or facing repair bills that make the work cost-prohibitive because those substances are no longer being produced. Some refrigerants being phased out under New York’s regulations can cost up to $1,200 for a 25-pound cannister. He said that the equipment does not support changing the type of refrigerant they are designed to use, so homeowners and businesses are stuck.

 

“Every year that goes by, it’ll become more expensive, more expensive,” Danz said. “The price of it just keeps going up because they’re not really producing much of it anymore. It’s becoming obsolete because of the environmental regs.”

 

His company that’s headquartered in North Albany has gotten calls from individuals concerned that their utility costs are “the highest they’ve ever been,” with many asking if they are doing something wrong in terms of their home or business energy systems.

 

“The government gets excited … they latch on to something (and think) this is going to be great, and it’s going to be good for the environment, and then they don’t always think about the individual, how it’s going to impact individual people,” Danz said. “We’ve already heard from several people, even some people that work for manufacturers, that this is only a 10-year stopover (for hydrofluorocarbons), before they transition again, which would be a very quick turnaround (and) cause costs to go up again.”

 

Twenty groups that represent thousands of businesses and other organizations sent a letter last week to Hochul and the state Legislature urging them to support the legislation that would align New York’s regulations on hydrofluorocarbons with the federal American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, which would require all states to reduce usage of the chemicals by 2036.

 

State Sen. Christopher J. Ryan, a Democrat from the Syracuse area, is a lead sponsor of the legislation in that chamber. “This legislation is essential — without it, New York residents and business owners will be forced to pay huge, unnecessary replacement costs under the state’s recently adopted (regulations) — replacement costs that could even force some businesses to close,” states the letter distributed by the Business Council of New York State on behalf of the commercial stakeholders.

 

The letter asserts that the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, which mandates a nationwide 85 percent reduction of hydrofluorocarbon production and consumption over the next decade, will establish “a comprehensive national strategy to reduce these potent greenhouse gases.”

 

“Aligning New York’s regulations with this federal program will ensure continued progress toward emissions reductions, maintain regulatory consistency across states, and help keep New York affordable by avoiding unnecessary expenses to prematurely upgrade refrigeration and air conditioning systems,” the groups wrote in their letter.

 

They added that “uniform national standards are critical for industries that rely on refrigeration and air-conditioning systems, including small businesses, supermarkets, hospitals, schools, and building operators.”

 

They contend the legislation would not weaken New York’s commitments under the 2019 Climate Act, and would preserve the state’s authority to pursue broader greenhouse gas reduction strategies, including electrification, energy efficiency, and refrigerant reclamation programs.

 

Several years ago, those same groups had complained that the state did not involve stakeholders in its decision-making on the hydrofluorocarbons, including operators of convenience and grocery stores and other business owners who warned they would have to shell out millions to purchase new refrigeration and HVAC equipment.

 

Officials with the Department of Environmental Conservation have asserted that the regulations promote climate-friendly alternatives to the chemical compounds and would align New York with federal climate law. 

 

“The proposed regulations would require large scale retail food chains to reduce (hydrofluorocarbons), which equates to 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, have no direct costs to consumers, and would not require consumers or businesses to replace existing products and equipment prior to the end of useful life,” the agency said two years ago. “According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, DEC’s proposal is estimated to help businesses reduce energy costs and will result in (up to) $540 million in savings, while helping fight climate change.”

 

But a memo in support of the legislation proposing to push back the implementation of the chemical restrictions governing HVAC systems notes that the transition “requires harmonized equipment standards, building codes, fire safety rules, and technician training.”

 

“National uniformity avoids stranded inventory, prevents safety risks from premature mandates, and supports orderly adoption of substitute refrigerants,” it adds. New York-only requirements that exceed federal rules increase costs for small businesses, schools, hospitals, and supermarkets while providing no incremental climate benefit.”

 

State officials have said the regulations do not force someone to stop using a product or equipment they purchased containing a prohibited substance even after the date of prohibition. However, since there is a ban on manufacturing or distributing many products that contain prohibited substances, they are becoming harder to find or much more costly.

 

The chemical compounds were first developed as replacements for substances that contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But they can have climate impacts “hundreds to thousands of times” greater than a similar amount of carbon dioxide. The measure of those impacts is referred to as “global warming potential.”

 

But state lawmakers say having New York implement the regulations a decade ahead of the rest of the U.S. is exposing supply-chain issues and also having a financial impact that cannot be ignored.

 

“Basically, the average family is impacted as they don’t understand what’s going on, and at the end of the day, it definitely continues to nourish the comments being said by the opposition, that this is pressuring costs and driving up the cost of living and making New York unaffordable,” McDonald said. “I was just talking to somebody down in Florida. They used to live in Ithaca, and they got sick of the high energy prices in that area, and they were getting no response from a government official. So they are now full-time, year-round, residents (of Florida). And this is the stuff that is actually real, and we can’t ignore that.”

 

Brendan J. Lyons

Managing Editor

Brendan J. Lyons is a managing editor for the Times Union overseeing the Capitol Bureau and investigations. Lyons joined the Times Union in 1998 as a crime reporter before being assigned to the investigations team. He became editor of the investigations team in 2013 and began overseeing the Capitol Bureau in 2017. You can reach him at blyons@timesunion.com or 518-454-5547.

 

Lawmakers seek to claw back refrigeration mandates in Climate Act