Section 44470 Of Part 9. Halogenated Refrigerants From California Health And Safety Code >> Division 26. >> Part 9.
44470
. (a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(1) For the first time in human history, the use and disposal of
certain manmade products are actively destroying a layer of the earth'
s atmosphere without which human life cannot continue to exist.
(2) These products, known as chlorofluorocarbons and halons, have
already begun to deplete the ozone layer which protects human and
other life forms from cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation. Above
California, the ozone shield has been depleted about 3 percent over
the last 20 years.
(3) On January 1, 1989, a 24-nation agreement (the Montreal
Protocol) became effective, calling for the reduction in use of most
CFCs and halons, and the Environmental Protection Agency has issued
regulations designed to freeze production of these products at
current levels.
(4) The Montreal Protocol was amended in 1990 calling for a
reduction of CFC manufacturing to 50 percent of 1986 levels by 1995,
further reduction to 15 percent of 1986 levels by 1997, and complete
elimination by the year 2000. Due to the severity of the ozone
depletion problem, however, this phaseout schedule is to be reviewed
in 1992 with the objective of accelerating it still further.
(5) It is essential to the health and safety of all Californians
to take such steps as are necessary to further decrease and halt the
destruction of the ozone layer by CFCs and halons.
(b) The Legislature further finds and declares the following:
(1) CFCs and halons contribute actively to global warming trends
which could dramatically affect the economy and stability of
California, including the flooding of coastal lands, loss of crop
winters, and destruction of coastal wetlands and forests.
(2) Twenty-five percent of the total amount of CFCs produced every
year in the United States are needlessly released into the
atmosphere through mobile air-conditioning servicing, maintenance,
and leaking.
(3) CFC-12 accounts for 46 percent of California's contribution to
ozone depletion from CFCs. Emissions from mobile air-conditioners
are estimated to account for 27 percent of all of California's CFC-12
emissions.
(4) Actions required by the federal Clean Air Act amendments of
1990 (Public Law 101-549) will result in programs which require the
recycling of CFCs used as refrigerants in existing motor vehicles and
stationary systems, beginning in 1992. The severity of the ozone
depletion problem, however, compels us to shift to the use of
alternative refrigerants as soon as possible.
(5) Most vehicle manufacturers have indicated that they can equip
a portion or all of their vehicle fleets with an alternative
refrigerant by the mid- to late 1990s, if alternative products
successfully complete toxicity testing by the Environmental
Protection Agency by 1992.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature by the enactment of this
part to phase out the use of CFC-based refrigerants in mobile
air-conditioning systems by banning the sale of any new automobile,
truck, or other motor vehicle in California which utilizes CFC-based
refrigerants after January 1, 1995, except as otherwise specified in
subdivision (b) of Section 44473.