United States v. Gristede’s Foods NY, Inc.

The U.S. Department of Justice lodged a consent decree in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York to resolve alleged violations by the owner and operator of approximately 20 supermarkets in New York City of the Clean Air Act and EPA’s refrigerant repair and recordkeeping regulations. The defendant admitted that between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021 it failed to comply with the regulations, known as the Recycling and Emissions Reduction Rule, including by failing to calculate refrigerant leak rates when adding refrigerants to its appliances, failing to conduct required monitoring and inspections, failing to perform necessary repairs and to retire equipment that could not be repaired, and failing to report significant leaks. The defendant also admitted that these violations led to refrigerant leak rates of 40%, 59%, and 46% in 2019, 2020, and 2021, resulting in emission of 42,094 pounds of refrigerants. The complaint alleged that these leaks “resulted in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to over 140,000,000 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle.” The consent decree required payment of a $400,000 civil penalty plus interest and also required the defendant to submit and implement a Refrigerant Compliance Management Plan. The consent decree specifies company-wide average leak rates that the defendant must achieve for four years, with stipulated penalties and corrective action requirements triggered if the rates are not achieved. The consent decree also includes an appliance repair schedule and requires use of advanced refrigerants. The defendant estimated that the consent decree’s injunctive requirements would cost $13.5 million. A public comment period on the consent decree closes on August 7.