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2004-2003 Enforcement Actions Under Title VI of the Clean Air Act

August 25, 2004: EPA Reaches Agreement with Abbott Labs on HCFC Leak Repair Violations (PDF, 56K, about PDF)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has reached an agreement with Abbott Laboratories to settle alleged violations of EPA regulations to protect stratospheric ozone at the company's health-care manufacturing plant in North Chicago, Illinois. EPA assessed a $17,903 penalty, and the company agreed to retrofit a number of R-22 industrial process refrigeration and comfort cooling units to use non-ozone depleting alternatives.
May 21, 2004: CFC Smuggler Sentenced to Serve 17 Years in Prison
Marc M. Harris was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 204 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years supervised release, and a $20,324,560 fine. Mr. Harris was also ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $6,588,949.50 for evasion of federal excise taxes on the sale of ozone-depleting refrigerants to customers in South Florida.
January 22, 2004: Wal-Mart to pay $400,000 penalty and cease sales of ozone-depleting refrigerants
Wal-Mart has agreed to pay a $400,000 civil penalty and will no longer sell ozone-depleting refrigerants at its Sam's Club stores. EPA regulations restrict the sales of ozone-depleting refrigerants to technicians who are certified to service stationary appliances or motor vehicle air-conditioners. The Complaint alleges that Sam's Club stores in eleven states sold ozone-depleting refrigerants to customers who were not properly certified.
January 21, 2004: U.S. reaches agreement with Dominick's Finer Foods
Dominick's Finer Foods, LLC has reached an agreement to resolve alleged violations of federal regulations to protect the stratospheric ozone layer. Under the agreement, Dominick's will pay a civil penalty of $85,000 for alleged past leaks of ozone-depleting refrigerants. In addition, the grocery chain has agreed to actions that will avoid the future release of over 35 tons of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerant.
July 31, 2003: Earthgrains to Pay $5.25 Million Penalty and Phase Out Refrigerants That Damage Ozone Layer
The lodging of the consent decree settles violations of Title VI of the Clean Air Act by Earthgrains Baking Companies, Metz Baking Company, Earthgrains Refrigerated Dough Products, L.P., and Coopersmith, Inc. (collectively Earthgrains). Sara Lee Corporation purchased these companies, which were incorporated into the Sara Lee Bakery Group, during the government's investigation. At the time of the purchase, Earthgrains was the second largest bakery company in the nation. The settlement requires Earthgrains to pay a $5.25 million civil penalty for having committed the largest ever corporate-wide violations of stratospheric ozone protection regulations. In addition, Earthgrains must convert all of its industrial process refrigeration appliances to refrigerant systems that do not deplete the ozone layer.

July 10, 2003: HVAC Instructor Sentenced For False Statements Related to Section 608 Technician Exams (PDF, 13K, about PDF)
Louis Molenda was an HVAC/R instructor at Universal Technical Institute in Glendale Heights, IL. He also served as an EPA-Section 608 proctor for Nugent Associates, a New York based EPA-certified testing organization. For a fee of $105, Mr. Molenda guaranteed his students a universal certification card without their having to take the EPA-Section 608 certification exam. On January 30, 2003, a grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois returned an indictment (PDF, 72 K) alleging that Mr. Molenda knowingly and willfully falsified, concealed and covered up by trick, scheme or device material facts within U.S. EPA's jurisdiction. Mr. Molenda later pled guilty to the conduct alleged in the indictment, and was sentenced in U.S. District Court to four months of home confinement and three years of probation.

February 19, 2003: Ganes Chemical of New Jersey Agrees to $303,600 Settlement with U.S. Resolving Industrial Leak Repair Violations (PDF, 63K, about PDF)
The violations at the Ganes Chemicals manufacturing facility in Pennsville concern the company's failure to timely report and repair chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) leaks at its Pennsville plant and to upgrade equipment as needed. The violations also concern the company's failure to keep and provide to the Government documentation on its compliance with federal ozone and CFC emissions standards.

January 21, 2003: Three North Carolina Air Conditioning Repairmen Plead Guilty to Venting Ozone-Depleting Refrigerants (PDF, 44K, about PDF)
Three North Carolina air-conditioning repairmen plead guilty in U.S. District Court to violating the Clean Air Act by knowingly venting ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerant, R-22, into the atmosphere. The three employees, of J & J Maintenance of Ft. Bragg, N.C., were responsible for maintaining the residential air conditioning units at Ft. Bragg. When sentenced, each defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000.

January 8, 2003: Kingpin in Ozone depleting CFCs Import Conspiracy Sentenced to 6½ Years in Prision
The lead defendant in a complex multi-year, multi-million dollar conspiracy to import and sell ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by false pretenses was sentenced to a term of six and one-half years in prison. The defendant was also ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution, as well as a fine of $12,500. The co-conspirator was sentenced to a term of four years in prison, and was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution.

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