RMS of Georgia, LLC v. EPA

On August 23, 2023, the manufacturer filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss separate petitions for review that sought review of EPA’s notices regarding the 2022 and 2023 allocations for production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons.

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the allocation of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) consumption allowances under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM Act) was a “nationally applicable” action, and that the Clean Air Act therefore required that a Georgia-based manufacturer of refrigerants file a challenge to the allocation in the D.C. Circuit. The AIM Act requires the phasedown of domestic production and consumption of HFCs by capping the number of allowances allowed each year. The law directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an allowance allocation and trading program to implement the phasedown. The Eleventh Circuit concluded that EPA’s allocation notice was nationally applicable because it allocated allowances nationwide and did not geographically restrict them.