Air conditioner refrigerant ban

Anyone planning on replacing their own air conditioner refrigerant in their car or truck might want to do it soon, because if a bill sponsored by Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson) becomes law, you will most likely have to go a mechanic instead.

Hilty’s bill, HF3661, contains a provision that would ban the sale of mobile air conditioner refrigerant in containers of less than 15 pounds. The idea is to prevent leakage of the refrigerant — a potent greenhouse gas — by discouraging consumers from replacing their own refrigerant and instead using the services of a professional mechanic or car dealer.

The House Finance Committee approved the bill April 4, and referred it to the House Ways and Means Committee. Its companion, SF3337, was passed 52-14 one day earlier by the Senate, where Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL-Duluth) is the sponsor.

Hilty said the provision only makes sense, since it is very difficult for “anyone but a trained mechanic in proper conditions” to replace refrigerant in a car’s air conditioner; however, Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) refuted that claim, noting that his wife replaced the refrigerant in her car’s air conditioner by herself last year.

“I have an awful lot of backyard mechanics in my district,” Mahoney said. He called the provision “very, very problematic.”

The bill also contains several other greenhouse gas-related provisions, including:

• requiring the Commerce Department and Pollution Control Agency to submit annual joint reports to the Legislature on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions;

• requiring manufacturers of air conditioner refrigerant and other gasses with a high “global warming potential” to report production data to the PCA;

• requiring auto manufacturers to report the refrigerant leakage rates on all new motor vehicles to the PCA; and

• requiring the PCA and the Office of the Attorney General to post mobile air conditioner leakage rates for each model and make of new car on their respective Web sites.

Rep. Dan Severson (R-Sauk Rapids) questioned the necessity of the legislation, arguing that global warming is the latest of a series of environmental “scares” that have ultimately proven to be false. He gave the example of the concern in the 1980s that various chemicals were depleting the Earth’s ozone layer, which he said is now repairing itself.

“I’m finding it very difficult to support a lot of the stuff that’s coming through with the whole term ‘global warming,’” Severson said.