United States. AHRI and the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy expressed strong support for a bipartisan amendment based on the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (S. 2754), a bill introduced last year by Senators John Kennedy and Tom Carper that would boost American manufacturing of next-generation refrigerant technologies, promote American innovation, and create ten thousand new domestic manufacturing jobs.
Introduced by Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), top Democrat tom Carper (D-Delaware) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) classified as an amendment to the Senate energy bill introduced last spring by Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Committee Ranking Democrat Joe Machin (D-WV).
The amendment is a bipartisan compromise
The enactment of the Barrasso-Carper-Kennedy amendment would resolve the uncertain regulatory landscape facing the U.S. heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry, by phasing out a class of refrigerants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and enabling a consumer-friendly market and transition to new, better-performing refrigerants and related products and equipment.
"This amendment brings us one step closer to implementing a phase-out of HFCs and reaping the substantial economic benefits associated with this transition to new refrigerant technologies," said AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek. "The amendment will achieve our industry's refrigerant goals while protecting consumers and delivering significant economic and environmental benefits, and we are grateful to this bipartisan group of Senate leaders for their assistance and foresight."
"We are grateful for the strong bipartisan support for this legislation," said Alliance Executive Director Kevin Fay, "as it envisions the clear development of a uniform elimination of federally based HFCs in the United States that will also enhance American technology leadership in our country, as well as around the world."
According to a 2018 study by Interindustry Forecasting at the University of Maryland (INFORUM), an elimination of HFCs will create 33,000 new manufacturing jobs and increase direct manufacturing production by $12.5 billion, increase the U.S. share of the global HVACR export market by 25 percent.
