Cases
Choice Refrigerants v. EPA and Regan
CASE SUMMARY
The Environmental Protection Agency is picking and choosing which companies are allowed to produce and sell hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)—refrigeration chemicals commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners—by using power that Congress unconstitutionally handed the agency. NCLA urges an end to this unconstitutional arrangement.
Congress passed the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020 to phase down HFC production, assigning EPA the power to distribute a limited number of allowances for companies to import or manufacture these critical products. But lawmakers did not give EPA any guidance about who should receive the allowances, violating foundational Constitutional protections that bar Congress from improperly abdicating its legislative authority to agencies. Instead of allocating allowances properly attributable to NCLA’s client, Choice Refrigerants, an American small business that created and patented a popular HFC blend, EPA instead granted allowances to Choice’s former business partner and to a Chinese-owned company that infringed their patent. EPA has also relied on Executive Orders to set some allowances aside for new market entrants rather than existing companies like Choice.