Tower has 60 days to pay the civil penalty or to appeal to the Environmental Appeals Board.
Compliance is essential to protect human health and the environment.
In its three count complaint, EPA alleged that Tower used uncertified technicians to perform service on MVACs, failed to use approved refrigerant recovery equipment during the service of MVACs and failed to certify to EPA that it was complying with appropriate CAA requirements. Ozone-depleting substances are regulated because they destroy the Earth's protective stratosphere, or ozone layer, which shields us from the sun's ultraviolet radiation which can cause skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage. Ozone in the upper atmosphere, with its screening effect, differs from ground-level ozone , a byproduct of auto and factory emissions that can cause lung damage.