Trump to delay Biden-era refrigerant rules in push to ease costs

By Jarrett Renshaw and Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - The Trump administration intends to delay compliance with two Biden-era rules governing refrigerants as ‌part of a broader effort to unwind the former president’s environmental ‌agenda, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said on Thursday.

The actions would affect grocers, semiconductor manufacturers ​and other companies that use hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems. The compliance requirements stem from a 2023 EPA rule aimed at reducing emissions of the superpollutants.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has rolled back nearly every ‌regulation that has targeted a ⁠reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, the EPA plans to propose rolling back other restrictions on HFCs through a separate ⁠rule affecting transporters of refrigerated goods, Zeldin said.

Zeldin said easing the restrictions would reduce costs for consumers, estimating potential savings of more than $2.4 billion.

“Americans were right to be ​frustrated with ​the Biden-era refrigerant rules,” Zeldin said in ​a statement. “They didn’t protect human ‌health or the environment and instead piled on costly, unattainable restrictions beyond what the law requires.”

The refrigeration and air conditioning industry had been largely supportive of previous regulatory efforts and some industry associations said the delay would end up increasing costs for manufacturers, grocery stores and consumers because they would require more refrigerants.

The ‌Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute criticized grocery ​store chains that pushed for this rollback, saying ​it would raise prices by reducing ​the supply of existing refrigerants.

"This was never a rule forcing ‌stores to replace existing equipment. It ​was a rule for ​new equipment. The EPA has no analysis showing that delaying these dates will lower costs for consumers," said Steven Yurek, president of AHRI.

The EPA ​last week also proposed ‌weakening wastewater limits for coal-fired power plants, saying the changes would ​lower electricity costs.

(Reporting By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by ​Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Porter and Nia Williams)