The Washington State Department of Environment on Wednesday fined Home Depot $1.6 million for selling products containing hydrofluorocarbons, a “super pollutant” primarily used in refrigeration and air conditioning that the state has banned because it contributes to climate change.
Home Improvement spokeswoman Evelyn Fornes declined to comment on the fine, citing ongoing litigation. The company has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal to the state Pollution Control Board, the environment department said. statement Thursday.
Department spokeswoman Caroline Halter said the company had not appealed as of Friday.
“If Home Depot decides to go this route, we are confident that the fine in this case will withstand legal challenges and we will continue to support it in Washington,” [hydrofluorocarbon] “There are limitations,” Halter said in an email Friday.
The ministry said it has spent nearly three years getting manufacturers and retailers to comply. Laws passed in 2019 and 2021 Washington state restricts the sale and use of hydrofluorocarbon products because the powerful greenhouse gases can leak into the atmosphere from faulty or damaged equipment and cause thousands of times more damage than carbon dioxide, the department said.
The department said that despite restrictions that went into effect in July 2021, Home Depot has continued to sell cans containing R-134a, a hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant commonly used in car air conditioning systems, to online customers in Washington state.
In a statement, the department said the environment department made “numerous attempts” between 2021 and 2023 to get Home Depot to comply with the state’s new regulations, including when company executives stated at a 2022 meeting that the company would no longer sell hydrofluorocarbon products in Washington state and would not add new products containing the gas to its website.
But a routine compliance check in July 2023 found the company was still selling products to online shoppers in Washington state, Halter said.
Home Depot’s sales figures show the company sold 1,058 units of the banned products in Washington state between April 12, 2022 and Sept. 5, 2023, Halter said.
Halter said the department issued a notice of violation in December for selling Home Depot between 783 and 1,322 pounds of R-134a, the equivalent of 515,000 to 859,300 pounds of coal burned.
Home Depot was originally scheduled to face penalties of $10,000 per violation, totaling about $10.6 million, but the department said it reduced the fines to $1,500 per violation because the company “promptly disclosed the number of units it sold.”
According to the ministry, hydrofluorocarbons are accumulating in the atmosphere and could increase to almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if their use is not stopped.
“limit [hydrofluorocarbon] “Reducing product and equipment emissions is key to meeting the state’s legal greenhouse gas emissions limits,” Joel Cresswell, who manages the department’s climate pollution reduction program, said in a statement. “If emissions from products and equipment leak into the environment, they contribute significantly to climate change.”
