Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says BASF and US EPA agree to Clean Air Act consent decree in federal court settlement in Texas.

BASF Corporation has agreed, under a federal consent decree filed in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.  Under the Clean Air Act settlement, BASF will spend more than an estimated $250,000 to retrofit one refrigeration unit that currently uses such chemicals, replacing them with environmentally-friendly alternatives, and will either retrofit or retire two other units. BASF will also pay a civil penalty of $384,200. 

Under the negotiated settlement, BASF will replace one industrial refrigeration unit at its facility in Beaumont, and will either retrofit or retire two others at that facility. All of those units currently use hydro-chlorofluorocarbons, known as “HCFCs,” which destroy stratospheric, or “good” ozone. All replacement units will be able to use only non ozone-depleting refrigerants.

BASF has already replaced or retired four other refrigeration units at BASF’s facilities in Livonia, Mich.; Greenville, Ohio; and South Brunswick, N.J., at a cost of over $200,000. Combined, the measures that the company is performing will remove approximately 4,760 pounds of harmful HCFCs from their operations.