UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGEN C Y WASH I NGTON , D

. C

. 20460

Crista LeGrand Execut i ve Director Fire Suppress ion Systems Association 360 1 E. Joppa Road Baltimore, MD 2 1 236 Dear Ms. LeGrand: 

## DEC 2 2 2015

OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION

I am writ in g in response to yo ur le tter to U.S. E nviro nment a l Protection Agency (E PA ) Admin i s tra t or G in a McCarthy of De ce m be r 2, 2015, i n w hich you share d so me of the concerns of t he Fire Suppression Systems Assoc ia ti o n (FSSA) rel a t ed to recent petition s s ubmitted to EPA o n further potent ia l action s that E PA 's S i g nificant New Alternative s Polic y (SNA P ) program co uld con s ider , including changing the s tatus of certa in hy droflu o rocarbon s (HFCs) u se d in t he fire s uppress io n sec tor. The letter references th e p etition s to EPA f rom the Natu ra l Resource s Defen se Co uncil (NRDC), In s titute for Gove rnanc e a nd Susta inab le Development (IGSD), and E nvironmental In ves ti gat i on Age ncy (E IA). EPA appreciates its long-standing cooperation and e ngage m ent with th i s sector through participation in indu s try meeti ngs a nd conferences , pre se nting at associati on me e tin gs, and hav ing s taff serv e o n codes and standards technical comm i ttees. The fire s uppre ssio n indu stry, incl u ding organizatio n s such as FSSA and t he Halon Al ternatives Research Corpo rat ion ( HARC ) for whic h FSSA i s a l so a memb er, took so me of the ear li est actions in re spo n se to the 1994 phaseout of p r od ucti on under th e Clean A ir Ac t of potent ozo ne - dep l eting ha lons, once widely u sed in man y s p ec ia lty fire s uppress ion app l ications. We recognize the s i gnificant efforts ofth i s indu s try t o avoid unne cessary e mi ss io n s of these age nt s as we ll as to initiate vo lun tary reporting a nd track in g of e mi ss i o n s. SNAP dete rmin a tion s o n a l ternatives li s ted fo r thi s sec to r h ave been in forme d by industry to under stand t he c riti ca l pro p erty and lif e protecti o n benefits for these s pecialty sys tem s . To me e t th e goa ls oft h e Pres id e n t's C lim ate Action P lan to red uce em i ssions ofHFCs, EPA p u b li s h ed a final rule o n Jul y 20 , 2 015 , that c han ge d th e statu s from acceptable to unacceptable for certa in hi gh-g l obal warm in g p otentia l HFC s in the aeroso l s, foams, and refrigeration and air conditio n ing sec tor s, w he r e s afer alternat i ves we re c urrent l y or potentially availab le. Fo ll owing the pub li cation of t h at r u l e, EPA received the petitions from RDC / IGSD and E IA. With regard to both petition s, EPA i s c urre ntl y review in g the in formatio n provided for the fire s uppress io n sector.

Internet Address (URL) • h!lp //www epa gov Re c y c l e d / R ec y c lable • Pnnted w1th Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100 °'· Postconsumer P roc ess Chlonne Fre e Re c ycled Pape rEPA value s input from all stake ho ld ers; therefore , o n September 11, 2015, EPA hosted a broad SNAP stakeholder meeting where the Agency provided information on potential end -u ses and sectors it was co n siderin g, including fire s uppression , with re gard to both adding to the l i st of acceptab le alternatives as we ll as changing th e s tatus of cer tai n listings. On December 2 , 2015 , EPA held a SNAP workshop spec ifi ca ll y for the fire su ppre ssion sector , whic h was attended by a representative from FSSA. Durin g the wo rks hop , we discussed some of the potential actions SNAP was considering. With regard to HFCs , we di scussed an effort to imp rove our und e r s tanding of HF C u se in th i s sec to r. Your informati o n with r egard to t he uses of HFC

- 23 , HFC-227ea , HFC-236fa, and HF C

- 1 25 are parti c ularl y helpful to our broad understanding of the s e u ses a nd the ava ilabilit y of a l tern ati ves. I appreciate your inte res t and informati on with regard to these uses of HFC s in t he fire s uppression sec tor. I look forward to yo ur continued cooperation in our efforts under SNAP. If y ou have further questions about your s ubmi ss ion , please contact Cindy Newberg , Chief of the A lternati v e s and Emission Reduction Branch at (202) 343

- 9729 o r newberg

. c in dy @ epa.gov.

Dru s i ll a Hufford, Direc r Stratospheric Protecti**~** t s ton Office of Atmospheric P g ram s