EPA's Response to 

Refrigerant Question

One of our members had the following question:

“Do you have any idea what the state licensing board AND the EPA has to say about the refrigerant handling and selling units with refrigerant to non-certified customers?”

I have not yet heard from the licensing board but below is a short synopsis of what I have received from EPA.  I have also enclosed the email string if you would like to see it.

You do not need to be certified to sell refrigerant, whether from a physical location or via the internet.

Sellers need to obtain documentation proving that a purchaser is either

·         certified or

·         the employer of at least one 

                  certified technician.

 

They must also document

·         the type and amount of refrigerant

                   sold,

·         the date it was sold, and

·         the identity of the purchaser.

You must be either certified or the employer of at least one certified technician to purchase ozone depleting substances.

Beginning next year, you must also be certified to purchase substitutes.

Beginning January 1, 2018, this certification requirement will be extended to the purchase and handling of most substitute refrigerants, such as R410A.

Please note, however, that the January 1, 2018 sales restriction will not apply to refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment - or components - with a fully assembled refrigerant circuit.

 

However, regardless of the refrigerant used, EPA encourages homeowners to use EPA certified technicians to install equipment containing refrigerant.

If you know of a violation of the Clean Air Act or any other environmental law, you may report it directly to EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) at https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/report-environmental-violations. You may do so anonymously. 

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Business License / Occupational Tax You Pay

As you know CAAG got the law changed years ago to say that you only had to buy ONE Business License (now called an Occupational Tax) and that was in the jurisdiction where your office is physically located IF the require a business license. 

Some jurisdictions charge extremely high fees for this.  Please send me what you pay for your Business License / Occupation Tax in your city or county.  I would like to see what might be done about this in light of the fact that the "$400 Club" still exists where a certain group of professions like doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, land surveyors, etc. only pay $400 per licensed person. This used to be $200 until I brought up adding Conditioned Air Contractors to this elite list.  I have contacted our attorney about this but we need to show how much our members are paying.  Please send this in.