A New York trial court denied a petition challenging amendments to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC’s) regulations addressing hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The court described the amended regulations as including prohibitions on new HFC products and systems, prohibitions on bulk substances and containers, and a variance process. First, the court rejected industry petitioners’ claims that portions of regulations were arbitrary and capricious. Regarding provisions addressing bulk substances, the court found that the record demonstrated that the regulations aligned with federal law and implemented the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) scoping plan, and that DEC acknowledged the requirements were technology forcing and provided a variance process to address feasibility concerns. Regarding prohibitions on regulated substances with 20-year global warming potential (GWP20) greater than 10 or greater than 20 (depending on the application), the court found that the regulations were consistent with the scoping plan and that the record showed DEC considered comments, that the regulation did not require specific alternatives, and that a variance provision was included. Regarding the DEC’s decision to include regulations of “other residential HVAC” that the petitioners alleged did not align with federal and other states’ requirements, the court found that the record explained why EPA and other states might not have yet regulated the technologies and that the regulations were intended to address emerging technologies. Second, the court rejected contentions that DEC failed to comply with the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA). The court found that DEC substantially complied with SAPA provisions requiring best estimates of the costs of the regulation, consideration of the regulation’s impact on small business, and identification of differences between federal standards and the adopted regulations. Third, the court ruled that DEC acted within its statutory jurisdiction under the CLCPA and other state environmental statutes.

Industry challenge to amendments to New York's hydrofluorocarbon regulations.

Heating Air-Conditioning Refrigeration Distributors International v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

New York Court Rejected Industry Challenge to State Hydrofluorocarbon Regulations

Filed

United States of America

New York

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

A target to reduce the prevalence of a greenhouse gas over a specific time frame

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Replacing technologies that burn fossil fuels directly with alternatives powered by electricity.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

New York Court Rejected Industry Challenge to State Hydrofluorocarbon Regulations

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector