EPA officials chose to bypass considering a broad swath of potential economic impacts when reviewing recent plans to delay a climate rule for grocery refrigerators.
But the agency’s own analysis shows the move could cost U.S. consumers and other industries well into the future.
President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin joined up at the White House on May 21 to fete plans to delay implementation of a regulation that requires grocers, when buying new refrigerators and freezers, to choose options that aren’t manufactured with heat-trapping hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The requirements — bumped ahead years from the Biden administration’s 2026 deadline — apply only when companies invest in new appliances. There’s no prohibition on keeping and repairing old ones.
Trump and Zeldin touted the rule change as a panacea for soaring grocery prices, driven up in recent months by higher costs of fuel, fertilizer, labor and other inputs. They said allowing supermarkets and frozen foods warehouses to buy cheaper refrigerators would help. “Just at supermarkets alone, we’re going to see a savings of $800 million, which Americans will be able to see when they go and buy their food,” Zeldin said.
