May 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has rolled back Biden-era policies reducing high-polluting greenhouse gases in refrigeration and air-conditioning, saying it will save Americans money.
The Trump administration is revising one Biden-era rule and proposing changes to another seeking to reduce the United States’ use of hydrofluorocarbons, a category of greenhouse gases that is linked to global warming.
The 2023 Technology Transitions Rule was intended to support the United States’ phasedown of HFCs, including a 40% reduction by 2028, by moving companies away from the climate-warming greenhouse gases, while the 2024 Emissions Reduction and Reclamation Rule sought to reduce HFC leaks and increase the reuse of refrigerants already being used in machinery.
As part of these moves, the Trump administration is extending the compliance deadlines for the use of hydrofluorocarbons for grocery and supermarket refrigeration from 2026 and 2027 to 2032 and widening the variety of refrigerants available to businesses.
The Trump administration touts that by revising the rules, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be protected and Americans will save more than $2.4 billion.
“It’s ridiculous, unnecessary and costly and actually makes the machinery worse,” Trump told reporters during the Oval Office press conference on Thursday, surrounded by grocery executives Kroger CEO Greg Foran, Fairway Market CEO Reynolds Kramer and Neman Foods President Richard Neman, among others.
Trump described those assembled as “a representative group of very large-scale retailers” harmed by the “crazy” Biden administration rule that forced them to adopt high-cost refrigerants, driving up the prices of transporting and storing goods.
“It was a very catastrophic thing that they did,” the president said.
The move was celebrated by grocery industry groups, with The Food Industry Association stating the Biden-era rules imposed “unrealistic compliance requirements and timelines” that threatened to drive food costs.
“Providing grocery retailers with additional time to comply with the Technology Transitions rule and announcing reconsideration of the Management Rule to evaluate ways to make it less burdensome will help address challenges related to upgrading refrigeration systems,” the association’s president and CEO, Leslie Sarasin, said in a statement.
“It will also provide much-needed certainty to stores across the country and help prevent billions of dollars in unnecessary refrigeration premiums that would then have to be passed on to consumers.”
While celebrated by grocery stores and food retailer groups, it was swiftly criticized by commercial refrigeration and appliance associations and environmental groups who say it will actually increase prices, not reduce them.
“This rule works against basic supply and demand,” Stephen Yurek, president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, said in a statement.
“By extending the compliance deadline, the EPA is maintaining and even increasing demand in the market for existing refrigerants while supply continues to fall under the AIM Act. So, instead of falling, refrigerant prices are likely to rise, resulting in higher service costs and higher costs for consumers.”
Trump signed the AIM Act during his first administration in 2020 to support American air-conditioning and refrigeration manufacturing.
Climate advocates also criticized the rollbacks as reckless, posing risks not only to the climate but public health and the economy.
“Amid dangerous heat waves, climate-fueled disasters and rising energy costs, the administration is choosing to weaken one of the most effective climate measures available,” Avipsa Mahapatra, climate campaign director at the Environmental Investigation Agency U.S., said in a statement.