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Biden administration to propose first rule requiring cut in climate pollutants Source: By Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni, Washington Post • Posted: Monday, May 3, 2021
The new Environmental Protection Agency rule targets hydrofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, pictured in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 19, supports the Biden administration’s climate plan. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The Environmental Protection Agency will propose a rule Monday aimed at sharply cutting the use and production of a class of powerful greenhouse gases used widely in refrigeration and air conditioning. The proposal marks the first time President Biden’s administration has used the power of the federal government to mandate a cut in climate pollution.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan on April 19, 2021, in Jamestown, N.C. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (CN) The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced the nation’s first-ever limits on a super-pollutant that is thousands of times more potent at heating up the planet as compared with carbon dioxide.
The new regulation creates a process to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), coolants primarily used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems, by 85% over the next 15 years part of the Biden administration’s strategy to half the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
“EPA is taking a major action to help keep global temperature rise in check,” the agency’s head, Michel S. Regan, said in a statement. “The phasedown of HFCs is also widely supported by the business community, as it will help promote American leadership in innovation and manufacturing of new climate-safe products. Put simply, this action is good for our planet and our economy.
E P A to Announce Sharp Limits on Powerful Greenhouse Gases msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Print article The Environmental Protection Agency will propose on Monday a rule aiming to sharply cut the use and production of a class of powerful greenhouse gases used widely in refrigeration and air conditioning. The proposal marks the first time President Biden’s administration has used the power of the federal government to mandate a cut in climate pollution. Unlike many of the administration’s other climate initiatives, there’s broad bipartisan support for curbing hydrofluorocarbons, pollutants thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. Congress agreed at the end of last year to slash the super-pollutants by 85 percent over the next 15 years as part of a broader omnibus bill.
E.P.A. to Sharply Limit Powerful Greenhouse Gases
The Biden administration is moving quickly to limit hydrofluorocarbons, the Earth-warming chemicals used in air-conditioning and refrigeration.
Air conditioners on a building in Manhattan last month.Credit.Andrew Kelly/Reuters
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WASHINGTON The Environmental Protection Agency moved on Monday to sharply reduce the use and production of powerful greenhouse gases central to refrigeration and air-conditioning, part of the Biden administration’s larger strategy of trying to slow the pace of global warming.
The agency proposed to regulate hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, a class of man-made chemicals that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. The proposal is the first significant step the E.P.A. has taken under President Biden to curb climate change.