OTTAWA, Ontario - The Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) and Refrigerant Management Canada (RMC) refrigerant supplier members and staff met with Margaret Kenny, director general of the Chemicals Section of Environment Canada, to discuss stewardship for HFCs and the RMC program. Warren Heeley, HRAI president, made the presentation to Kenny on behalf of the group. The presentation outlined the background on the RMC program, the financial challenges facing the program based on the HCFC phaseout schedule, the desire to bring HFCs into the program, and the barriers to accepting HFCs without some form of controls on imports.

In the conclusion of the presentation, Heeley recommended that Environment Canada proceed to revise the federal regulations and require all importers and manufacturers of halocarbon refrigerants for the Canadian market be a part of the RMC program and be subject to the RMC levy process. According to the associations, the benefits of this to government, the industry, and the public include nationwide compliance with provincial halocarbon regulations, a “level playing field” for the refrigerant industry in Canada, and significant reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Heeley pointed out that, to date, the RMC program has reduced GHG emissions by more than 5 million tons.

The presentation also pointed to the successful implementation of a similar regulation in Australia to support the Refrigerant Reclaim Australia program and the current bill before the U.S. House of Representatives to establish a program called RMUSA that will address refrigerant reclaim and destruction issues similar to RMC. He also pointed to the need for support from Environment Canada to ensure the sustainability of the RMC program and the urgency of addressing RMC’s needs to deal with program funding shortfalls that could occur as early as 2009.

Kenny and her staff outlined the process of revising the federal regulations and some of the challenges for Environment Canada to proceed with these revisions. In particular, all those in attendance recognized the need to have automotive and appliance industry support for this proposal. She also pointed to the positive aspects of the GHG emission reductions from the program and asked HRAI/RMC to provide projections of these reductions out to 2020. The delegation agreed to provide these estimates and plain language proposals for changes to the federal regulations.

For more information, contact Warren Heeley at 800-267-2231 or e-mail warren.heeley@hrai.ca.

Publication date: 12/10/2007