Unrealistic timelines and excessive compliance costs harm grocery stores and their customers
Washington, D.C. – The National Grocers Association (NGA), the leading trade association for the nation’s independent grocers and wholesalers, today announced it has petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise its Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) Management Rule because of unrealistic timelines, excessive compliance costs, and regulatory requirements that go beyond what Congress mandated.
NGA’s petition argues that the HFC Management Rule imposes several impractical and overly burdensome requirements on food retailers, including drastically increasing the number of covered refrigeration appliances and setting a leak-rate limit that does not align with real-world systems. NGA also contends that the rule’s repair, testing, and retrofit deadlines are unrealistically short, given national shortages of technicians and parts, and requests more time to comply with automatic leak-detection system mandates.
“Independent grocers are committed to environmental sustainability and responsible refrigerant management,” said Max Wengroff, NGA senior manager of government relations. “But the EPA’s rule places unrealistic obligations on retailers that simply cannot be met under the timelines and thresholds imposed. These unnecessary obligations will raise costs for businesses and families.”
The independent grocery sector accounts for nearly one-third of all U.S. grocery sales, more than $250 billion annually, and over one million jobs. NGA contends that without reasonable rule revisions, the HFC Management Rule will impose costs that many independent grocers simply cannot absorb and will ultimately be passed onto consumers.
You can read NGA’s petition here.
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About the National Grocers Association
NGA is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale community grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. An independent retailer is a privately owned or controlled food retail company operating a variety of formats. The independent grocery sector is accountable for about 1.2 percent of the nation’s overall economy and is responsible for generating more than $250 billion in sales, 1.1 million jobs, $39 billion in wages and $36 billion in taxes. NGA members include retail and wholesale grocers located in every congressional district across the country, as well as state grocers’ associations, manufacturers and service suppliers. For more information about NGA, visit www.nationalgrocers.org.
