EPA v. Costco National Case (NC) (Lead)

Case summary

On November 5, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California entered a consent decree to resolve claims against Costco Wholesale Corporation, the nation's second largest retailer, under the stratospheric ozone protection requirements of Section 608 of the Clean Air Act. Pursuant to the national settlement, Costco must implement a refrigerant compliance management system to prevent future violations of ozone protection requirements, reduce its corporate-wide average leak rate by approximately 21%, retrofit or replace commercial refrigeration equipment at 30 warehouses to use non-ozone depleting substances with a global warming potential of no more than 1,825, and, at all new warehouses, Costco must install secondary loop systems, which use considerably less refrigerant, and implement centrally monitored leak detection systems. The settlement, covering 278 warehouses nationwide in every EPA Region, will reduce emissions of the refrigerant, R-22, by approximately 128,000 pounds, which, as a potent GHG, has the CO2 equivalent of 105,000 metric tons, itself equivalent to the annual GHG emissions from 22,075 passenger vehicles. The consent decree, which is the second national settlement led by Region 9, also requires Costco to pay a civil penalty of $335,000.

Defendants (1)

• CostcoNamed in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• COSTCO

  5301 ALMADEN EXPRESSWAY, SAN JOSE, CA, 99999

  Registry ID: 110002913349

Statutes cited

• CAA 608 — National Recycling & Emission Reduction Program

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• Costco National Case (NC) (Lead)entered 2014-11-05

  Primary law: CAA

  Federal penalty: $109,658

Timeline (7 milestones)

• 2008-09-25Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2008-10-02Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2014-09-03Complaint Filed With Court
• 2014-09-03Final Order Lodged
• 2014-11-05Final Order Entered
• 2018-04-30Enforcement Action Closed
• 2018-04-30Air Resolved