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 EPA Press Office:

EPA’s GreenChill Program Celebrates Achievements in Environmentally Friendly Refrigerant Management Across the Supermarket Industry

BALTIMORE, MD. (Oct. 4, 2023) – Today, in a ceremony at the FMI – The Food Industry Association’s Energy and Store Development Conference, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Program recognized 12 food retail companies and one manufacturer of advanced refrigeration systems for their exceptional achievements to reduce the use of ozone-depleting substances and/or climate-damaging refrigerants.

 

“Participants in the GreenChill Partnership and Store Certification Programs have been leading the industry in environmentally friendly refrigeration practices, and EPA annually honors their achievements at both the corporate and individual store certification level,” said Paul Gunning, Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Protection. “These companies’ efforts show that it is possible to keep food cool while protecting our Earth’s ozone layer and climate system by setting and achieving ambitious goals year after year.”

 

GreenChill Partners commit to reducing refrigerant emissions and decreasing their impact on the environment. On average, GreenChill food retailers maintain emissions rates that are approximately half the industry average, resulting in a significant benefit to the environment. Over the past 16 years, GreenChill Partners have avoided emissions of around 599 metric tons of ozone-depleting substances and almost 110 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is roughly equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from consuming over 12 billion gallons of gasoline.  

 

This year, EPA is proud to recognize the following GreenChill Partner companies: 

 

Best Emissions Rate 

• Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.) 

• Meijer (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 

Most Improved Emissions Rate 

• Brookshire Grocery Company (Tyler, Texas) 

Superior Goal Achievement  

• Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.) 

• Brookshire Grocery Company (Tyler, Texas) 

• Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.) 

• The GIANT Company (Carlisle, Pa.) 

• Hannaford (Scarborough, Maine) 

• King Kullen (Bethpage, N.Y.) 

• Weis Markets (Sunbury, Pa.) 

Exceptional Goal Achievement 

• Ashland Food Co-Op (Ashland, Ore.) 

• Food Lion (Salisbury, N.C.) 

 

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program recognized stores for meeting strict performance criteria including refrigeration systems with minimal potential impacts on the ozone layer and climate system. This year’s GreenChill Store Certification recognitions honor: 

 

Store Leadership 

• Kwik Trip in La Crosse, Wis., is being honored as the first convenience store to receive a GreenChill Certification.  

Store Certification Excellence  

• ALDI (Batavia, Ill.) earned recognition for certifying 628 GreenChill Certified Stores over the past year, more stores than any supermarket chain has previously achieved, all of which were at the highest Platinum-Level Certification. 

• Hillphoenix (Conyers, Ga.) achieved this recognition for the 11th consecutive year as the commercial systems manufacturer with the most systems installed in GreenChill Certified Stores in the last year.  

Store Recertification Excellence 

• ALDI – A total of 109 locations across California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years. 

• Hannaford – The Turner, Maine, store achieved GreenChill Store Certification for 10 consecutive years. 

• Meijer – The Marysville, Ohio, store achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years. 

• Publix Super Markets – Five locations in Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina achieved five-year recertifications.  

• Target – Two stores in Florida and Illinois achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years. 

• Weis Markets – The Danville, Pennsylvania, store achieved GreenChill Store Certification for five consecutive years. 

 

About the GreenChill Program 

 

GreenChill’s Partnership is a voluntary program for food retailers committed to leading the transition out of ozone-depleting refrigerants, reducing refrigerant emissions, and adopting improved refrigeration management practices and technologies. The goals of the GreenChill Partnership are to provide food retailers and other industry stakeholders with information and assistance to transition to environmentally friendlier refrigerants, lower refrigerant charge sizes, eliminate refrigerant leaks, implement best environmental practices, and adopt green refrigeration technologies.  

   

Since GreenChill launched in 2007, many food retailers have joined the Corporate Emissions Reduction Program (the Partnership) with the number of stores nearly tripling from 4,500 to more than 13,000 stores today in all 50 states. The Partnership represents more than one-third of the U.S. food retail industry. 

 

GreenChill’s Store Certification Program for food retailers continues to grow. In 2022, there were nearly 900 GreenChill Certified Stores throughout the nation. Since it began in 2008, the GreenChill Store Certification Program has issued more than 4,400 annual certifications to over 1,300 individual stores.  

 

Learn more about GreenChill and today’s recognition recipients  

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA settlement with XTO Energy resolves Safe Drinking Water Act injection well violations in Utah

Ensures compliance with requirements on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation

Contact: Richard Mylott, mylott.richard@epa.gov

Fort Duchesne, Utah (Oct. 3, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with Texas-based XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Exxon-Mobil, resolving alleged violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act’s Underground Injection Control program (UIC) at three injection wells within the Uintah & Ouray Indian Reservation in Utah’s Uinta Basin. 

The settlement was filed on September 29 and requires the company to pay a civil penalty of $19,718.08 for its violations of UIC requirements. XTO failed to timely provide the agency with all information necessary to transfer the permits from XTO to Utah Gas Corp and failed to notify the Agency of the loss of mechanical integrity for one of its wells and to take prompt action to repair the well. The wells are in Uintah County and are used for disposal of brine produced from nearby gas production wells that were also operated by XTO.

“This settlement demonstrates that EPA takes compliance with the UIC program seriously,” said Suzanne Bohan, Director of EPA Region 8's Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “As the nation’s drinking water aquifers diminish in quantity, it is increasingly important that regulations to protect aquifers are adhered to, especially in historically disadvantaged communities like those within Indian Reservations.”

Injection wells are required to maintain mechanical integrity to ensure they remain free of significant leaks that cause unwanted fluids to impact drinking water aquifers. EPA’s UIC program regulates injection activities to prevent contamination of underground sources of drinking water; the program relies on timely and accurate reporting by the regulated community.

Today’s action aligns with the federal government’s efforts to ensure environmental protection in tribal communities.

The settlement and order requiring its compliance are available for viewing at: Consent Agreement and Final Order.

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Announces 2023 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award Winners

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 30 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners across 15 states and the District of Columbia, recognizing their achievements in the design, manufacture, and the selection and use of cleaners, detergents and other products with safer chemicals.

The Safer Choice program helps consumers and purchasers of facilities, such as schools and office buildings, find cleaning and other products containing chemical ingredients that are safer alternatives for human health and the environment. Applicants for this year’s awards were encouraged to show how their work promotes environmental justice, bolsters resilience to the impacts of climate change, results in cleaner air or water, improves drinking water quality, or advances innovation in packaging.

“Today, we recognize outstanding Safer Choice partners and stakeholders who are working to make sure people have access to products with safer ingredients for people and the planet,” said EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention Jennie Romer. “This year’s Safer Choice Partner of the Year awardees have worked to contribute to the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), advancing environmental justice, and reducing plastic pollution.”

Many Safer Choice partners recognized today have shown leadership and innovation in safer chemistry and sustainable packaging. For example, one winner reformulated their floor finishing product to replace PFAS with a safer chemical alternative. The reformulated product carries the Safer Choice label and demonstrates that water-based floor finishes can work well without PFAS, an important innovation for the sector. Other winners are reducing plastic use and water consumption by offering their products as concentrates or tablets. These practices also lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the amount of product that must be transported.

Additionally, many awardees worked to advance environmental justice through education on products with safer ingredients in underserved and overburdened communities. For example, one winner offered free lesson plans for teachers, including those in underserved communities, to empower teachers and students to identify cleaning products with safer ingredients. Another winner increased awareness among Spanish-speaking cleaning service providers through a virtual webinar series.

A list of the 2023 Partner of the Year award winners can be found below. Learn more about the 2023 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners and summaries of their accomplishments.

List of Winners

American Cleaning Institute, Washington, D.C.

Apple, Cupertino, Calif.

Blueland, New York, N.Y.

Bona US, Englewood, Colo.

Case Medical, Bloomfield, N.J.

Church & Dwight Co., Inc., Ewing, N.J.

The Clorox Company, Oakland, Calif.

ECOS, Cypress, Calif.

Hazardous Waste Management Program, King County, Wash.

Holloway House, Inc., Fortville, Ind.

The Home Depot, Atlanta, Ga.

Household & Commercial Products Association, Washington, D.C.

ISSA—The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, Rosemont, Ill.

JAWS International, Ltd., a Division of Canberra Corporation, Toledo, Ohio

Jelmar, LLC, Skokie, Ill.

Lemi Shine, Austin, Texas

Mighty Fire Breaker LLC, Rohnert Park, Calif.

North Central Educational Service District, Wenatchee, Wash.

Novozymes North America, Franklinton, N.C.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Portland, Oreg.

Phibro Biotechnics, a division of Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Sarasota, Fla.

Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Everett, Wash.

PurposeBuilt Brands, Gurnee, Ill.

Roger McFadden and Associates, LLC, Canby, Oreg.

Rust-Oleum Corporation, Vernon Hills, Ill.

Sensitive Home, Greenbrae, Calif.

Seventh Generation, Burlington, Vt.

Spartan Chemical Company, Maumee, Ohio

State Industrial Products, Mayfield Heights, Ohio

Wexford Labs, Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Finalizes Cleanup Plan for Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment Superfund Site in Genesee County, New York

NEW YORK (October 2, 2023) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized its cleanup plan to address contaminated groundwater, soil, bedrock, soil vapor and surface water at the Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment site located in LeRoy, New York. EPA held a public meeting on August 29, 2023, to explain the proposed plan to the community and take comments. The finalized plan, released today, addresses the remaining contamination from the historic train accident that spilled trichloroethylene (TCE) onto the ground and caused the groundwater contamination.

“We handled the most immediate threats by working with the state to remove contamination and connect people to a safe source of drinking water,” said Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “This final cleanup plan addresses the last of the contaminated legacy of this derailment and turns the page to the final chapter of our work at this site.”

The site includes the location of a former train derailment that occurred on December 6, 1970, at the Gulf Road crossing in the Town of LeRoy. Two tank cars ruptured and spilled approximately 30,000 gallons of TCE onto the ground. A third car containing a crystalline form of cyanide was also reported to have partially spilled. The cyanide was recovered shortly after the derailment, however the TCE was flushed with water, and it seeped into the ground, resulting in a 4-mile-long plume of TCE contamination. EPA placed the site on the Superfund List in 1999 and has been addressing the site in several stages, including an early removal response, as well as remedial actions known as operable units (OUs), where EPA worked with the state on a waterline and oversaw vapor mitigation work in affected homes and a soil cleanup in the spill area.

The finalized cleanup plan, called a Record of Decision, will address the groundwater, bedrock, soil, soil vapor, and surface water. For the groundwater contamination, EPA has determined that no existing treatment methods can clean up the groundwater to meet necessary standards. Therefore, EPA’s final remedy includes monitoring the groundwater and limiting the use of the groundwater to protect people’s health over the long-term.

The finalized cleanup plan also includes:

• removing remaining contaminated soil and disposing of it off-site at a permitted disposal facility, followed by backfilling with clean fill.
• treating (in place) of contaminated surface water with streambed cover, restrictions, and monitoring.
• monitoring groundwater, surface water, soil vapor and indoor air to check the levels of contaminants.
• maintaining and installing vapor mitigation systems for properties that are affected by soil vapor intrusion from the groundwater plume. These systems prevent harmful vapors from entering indoor spaces.
• connecting new homes built over the groundwater plume to the public water supply system or providing point-of-entry treatment systems if connection to the municipal system is not feasible. Existing homes over the plume were connected to the public water system in 2003.
• restricting the use of groundwater using controls such as easements in the spill area and informing the public via notices of the contaminated groundwater and soil vapor.

For additional background and to see the Record of Decision, visit the Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment Superfund site profile page.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter now known as X and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website.

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