Previous Story
DEQ unveils campaign to protect ozone layer
|
Posted on Aug 06 1999
After the household hazardous waste drive, now comes the campaign on proper maintenance, repair and disposal of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment.
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency and the Division of Environmental Quality are currently conducting an educational campaign to all air con and refrigeration dealers as well as air con technicians in the CNMI on how chloroflurocarbons and hydrochloroflurocarbons contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer.
EPA established a national program implemented under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act, which covers everyone that owns, maintains, services and repairs or disposes any equipment that uses CFCs, HCFCs or their substitutes as refrigerants.
The U.S. is a signatory to the Montreal Protocol with over 150 countries that agreed to phase out production of ozone-depleting substances including CFC-12 by the year 2000.
According to Marie L. Broadwell, EPA environmental specialist, the regulations make it illegal to knowingly vent refrigerants into the atmosphere during the maintenance, service, repair or disposal of air conditioning or refrigeration equipment.
Anyone that performs service activities that could reasonably release refrigerants to the atmosphere (for example, adding or removing refrigerants from an appliance) must be certified by an EPA-approved program.
The regulations are equally applied whether in the U.S. mainland or its territories. “How we deal with it and work with it is on a case by case basis,” said Broadwell.
DEQ will be the eyes and ears of EPA. After the awareness campaign, DEQ may establish its own regulations in the CNMI to enforce the EPA regulations, said David Chargualaf, DEQ’s program head.
An inspection report will be regularly submitted to EPA by DEQ to make sure that the CNMI is in compliance of the federal law. “We will balance the enforcement by helping businesses comply with the regulations,” said Chargualaf.
