The Natio n a l En v ir onme n ta l D ev e lopme n t Association ' s Clean A ir P r oject
Members : ALCOA Inc
. March 25,2011 Tho Boeing Company ConocoPhllllpa Company Chrysler Group LLC Ell Lilly & Company Exxon Mobil Corporation Georg l a·Pacific LLC Intel Corporation lnvisUI S
. a · r . l. Koch Industries , Inc
. Merck & Co ., Inc
.

NewPage Corp
. Docket ID . No. E P A -HQ
- OAR
- 2003 -0 167 U.S . Enviro nm ental Pro tec tion Agency Occidental Petroleum Corporation Procte r & Gamble Company Weyerhaeuser Corporation Counsel : Office of Atmospheric Programs: Mail Code 6205- 

### J 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. L eslie R i tts . E s q uire Washington, DC 20460 R e: Prote ction of Stratospher ic O z one : Am e ndment s to th e S ec tion 608 Le ak R e pair R e quireme nts; Propo se d Rule: 7 5 Fe d . Reg. 78558 (Dec . 15. 2011 ) : R e op e n i n g o f Comment Pe riod : 7 6 F e d . R eg. 9 98 7 (Feb. 23 , 2011) . Dear Sir or Madam: NEDA/CAP appreciates this opportunity to offer s u pp le m ental comments on the proposal to revise in s i gnificant ways the existing regulations for repairing, replacing, and r etrofitting covered refrigeration equipment including industrial process refrigeration appliances and comfort cooling app li ances (i.e. air conditioners). NEDA/CAP i s a coalition of ma j or American manufacturers from many indu strial sectors. As part of this ru lemaking, NEDA/CAP requests EPA reaffirm and codify the agency's histori c interpretation that the "appliance with a full charge grea ter th an 50 pounds" test is app li ed to each independent refrigeration circuit in an app liance. This inte rpretation is cited in the pream ble of th e 1 995 rul e and sh ou l d be m ade exp li cit in the regu l ation itself in order to avo id in advertent confusion. The 1 995 Notice of Final Rulemaking clarified the applicability of the rule by explaining: 

### "One commenter requests that EPA clarify that 50 pounds refers to the refrigerant in one refrigerant circuit. The commenter states thnt where huo separate, wholly independent ref r

igeration circuits that are not interconnected, each having a normal refrigerant capacihJ of no more than 50 pounds, the leak repair provisions should not apply . EPA agrees with this conzmenter. Through this action, EPA would like to T he Carriage House , 620 Fort Williams P a r kway Alexa n dria , Vi r ginia 22304 Pho n e: 703
. 823.2292 Fax: 57 1
. 970
. 3721NE DA /C AP S uppl eme nt a l C omments on R efri gerant Le ak Dete ction Rul e M a r c h 2 5,2 011. 

### clarifi; that 

## if the refrigerant circuits do not interconnect, and 

## if each wholly independent cir cuit has a capac 

## in; of no more than 50 pounds of refrigerant, the leak repair pr ovisions promulgated under§ 82.156(i) 

### do not apply. However, 

## if the refrigerant circuits are connected, and the combined circuits luwe a normal capacity of more than 50 pounds of refrigerant , the leak repair prov isions do apply." 60 Fed. Reg . 404 20,40425 (A u gust 8, 1 995 ) F in a l R ule. 1 

### Therefo re, EPA sho uld reaffirm tha t an app liance w ith two ind e p enden t refri geran t circ ui ts o f 49 p ounds each does not tr i gger the req u irements app licable to an "app li ance with a full 

### c h arge greater than 50 po un ds. " This additio n to the regulation s will further streamline and clarify an esse nti a l compone nt of th e refrigeran t l eak repair r ule. Furt h er NE D A/CAP ur ges EPA to clarify th at the same approach to determ ining the ap p licability thres h o ld for leak repairs (based on the capacity of eac h circ ui t in an appliance) app li es equally with res p ect to recor dkee p ing re quire m en ts f o r appli ances "w ith a full 

### ch a rge gre ate r th an 50 po un ds" s u c h th at for appliances w ith m ul tiple cir cuits, each with a ca p aci ty of no more ch arge of 50 po unds, these recordkeep in g provisions do not apply. It is o ur view tha t th ere is no basis in th e regul ati o n s for treating reco r dkeeping any differe n tly from leak r epair w ith r espect to th e" grea t er than 50 po und " test. Mo reover, fr o m a streamlining and policy pe rspective, it wo uld seem to m ake se n se fo r th e two req uire m ents to r e fl ec t the s am e app li cability thresho ld. Recordkeeping for circ uits no t subjec t to the leak repair require m ents are n ot n ecessary to su p po r t the o th er provision s of the r ule. T h ank you for tl us o pp ortuni ty t o s ubmit s uppl em enta l co mm e n ts o n be h a lf of NE D A/CAP. If 

### yo u h ave questions, please contact m e at 703/823-2292 or send me an email at l sritts @ gmail.com . S in cere ly,



# ~~ **6---9-Tfr** Leslie Ritts, Counsel, NE D A/CAP

1 See: http : /(www . gpo . gov /fdsys/pkg/FR
- 1995-08-08 / pdf/95-18999 . pdf ; see also EPA
" Co mplimz ce Guidance Fo r Industrial Pr ocess Re frig e ratio n Leak Re pair Re gulations Unde r Sec tion 608 Of Th e Cle an Air A ct, EPA. D oc . # 300-B-95-010 (Oct. 1995)."0n Page C-1, of this G u idance EPA sta t es: "The leak re pair requirements of this law do not apply to any system whose full charge is 50 pounds or less of refrigeran t in a n y inde p endent refrigerant cir c

uit." On page B-3, the Guidance responds to the fo ll owing q u estion, "What if my industrial process refrigeration system has two independent refrigeration circuits, one with a

### full c harge greater than 50 pounds, the other with a

### full charge less than 50 po unds?" EPA r esponds " The cir c uit whose full c har ge is greate r than 50 pounds would be s ubj ec t to l e ak r e pai r re quir e m e nt s . T he circuit w ho s efull clra rge is l ess th a n 50 pound s w ould not b e s ubj e ct to l eak r e pair r e quire m ents." (e mphasi s add e d) 21 P age