This Clean Air Act violation is the first prosecution in the nation against an auto salvage company for unlawfully venting CFCs. Oceania Boulevard in Virginia Beach. EPA estimates that approximately 30 to 40 percent of these cars contained air conditioners charged with CFCs, much of which was released into the environment. It is imperative that industry adhere to the regulations. CFCs are regulated because of their potential to destroy the Earth's protective stratosphere, or ozone layer, which shields us from the sun's radiation.
Recent studies indicate that the ozone hole over Antarctica is now approximately the size of Europe.
The World Meteorological Organization has documented losses of stratospheric ozone over the northern hemisphere as well, and projects that ozone levels over Europe and North America will drop another five percent over the next few years. Ozone in the upper atmosphere, with its salutary UV screening effect, must be distinguished from ground-level ozone, a pollutant from auto and factory emissions that ages lungs prematurely.