“Today’s guilty plea for the first-ever HFC arrest demonstrates EPA’s commitment to vigorously enforcing our laws at all US borders and ports to prevent illegal HFC canisters from entering the US.”
The Biden-Harris Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boasted its first arrest and conviction of a man for transporting refrigerants across the southern border, calling them “potent greenhouse gases.” The first case is part of a wider climate change agenda crackdown.
Michael Hart, 58, was detained in March when he was “smuggling potent greenhouse gases into the United States from Mexico and then selling them for profit, in violation of regulations intended to curb the use of greenhouse gases and slow climate change,” according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
He was later convicted in September and pleaded guilty to “[conspiring] to illegally import potent greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) into the United States from Mexico.” HFCs are used in your everyday air conditioners, fire extinguishers, and refrigerators.
EPA Assistant Administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance David M. Uhlmann touted the conviction of Hart, saying, “Today’s guilty plea for the first-ever HFC arrest demonstrates EPA’s commitment to vigorously enforcing our laws at all US borders and ports to prevent illegal HFC canisters from entering the US.”
The DOJ press release about Hart’s conviction stated: “From about June to December 2022, Hart offered HFCs and HCFCs for sale via OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace and other internet sites. He then communicated with conspirators in the United States, who placed purchase orders for the refrigerants with Hart.”
Hart, with his supposed illegal and environmentally unfriendly business activities, would purchase canisters from Mexico and then sell them to others in the United States. Uhlmann added in the press release, “During Climate Week, the United States recognizes the urgent need to limit climate super pollutants like HFCs to help address the existential threat of climate change.”
US Attorney Tara McGrath championed the arrest: “Clean air is not for sale to the highest bidder. The Department of Justice will use every tool at our disposal to protect air quality and hold criminal polluters accountable.”
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