The U.S. Department of Justice announced a proposed settlement with The Kroger Company to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at grocery stores nationwide. Under the proposed consent decree, Kroger will spend an estimated $100 million over the next three years to reduce coolant leaks from refrigerators and other equipment and improve company-wide compliance with rules protecting the Earth’s ozone layer.
The company will also pay a $2.5 million civil penalty. The settlement resolves allegations that Kroger failed to promptly repair refrigerant equipment leaks involving R-22, an ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC), between 2014 and 2023, and failed to keep adequate refrigeration service records.
If entered by the court, the settlement requires Kroger to retrofit or replace 600 large commercial refrigeration systems at its stores to reduce ozone-depleting emissions. Kroger must also implement a refrigerant management system to help prevent and repair coolant leaks and keep its corporate-wide average leak rate to no more than 9.5 percent per year.
The consent decree was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and is subject to a 30-day public comment period. The Environmental Protection Agency investigated the matter.
“Compliance with the Clean Air Act protects human health,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Fixing leaks of ozone-depleting refrigerants makes a real difference in protecting all Americans from the harmful effects of solar radiation.”
