The Biden administration boasted in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report released Thursday about the unprecedented prosecution of a California man for “smuggling greenhouse gases” across the border from Mexico and selling them online.
Michael Hart, 58, was arrested in March and pleaded guilty in September to charges related to transporting refrigerants into the US to peddle on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and other online vendors between June and December 2022.
Biden’s EPA touted the crackdown on Hart, the first-ever person charged for climate change-related bootlegging of refrigerants — namely, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs) — without the agency’s approval, in its report.
When charging the San Diego resident earlier this year, US Attorney Tara McGrath vowed “it will not be the last” case of its kind.
“We are using every means possible to protect our planet from the harm caused by toxic pollutants, including bringing criminal charges,” the prosecutor from the Southern District of California said.
Hart concealed the refrigerants, or hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs), under a tarp and some tools in his pickup truck when crossing the border, according to federal prosecutors.
The importation of HFCs, a synthetic refrigerant typically used in older air conditioning systems, is outlawed under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020 — passed as part of a government spending bill in December of that year.
In total, the EPA report revealed 121 criminal defendants have been charged with climate crimes in 2024 — the highest amount since Biden, 82, took office — and that it concluded more than 1,850 civil cases.
The environmental authority also reported slapping $1.7 billion in penalties on climate offenders in the latest fiscal year, the highest level reached under Biden.
The agency said its “enhanced efforts” at enforcing environmental laws held “polluters accountable” and provided “substantial environmental and public health benefits.”
“In Fiscal Year 2024, EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance program produced its strongest results since 2017, focusing on efforts to combat climate change and tackling some of the nation’s most significant environmental threats to our shared air, water and land,” David Uhlmann, the assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a statement.
“The progress made under the Biden-Harris Administration has sent a clear signal that polluters will be held accountable and that protecting communities from harm is a top priority,” he added.
Trump, who actually signed into law the greenhouse gas bill that resulted in Hart’s arrest, albeit as part of a government funding package, has tapped former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as administrator of the EPA in his incoming administration.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Uhlmann indicated that he expects the EPA under Trump to continue to hold polluters accountable.
“Upholding the rule of law and making sure that polluters are held accountable and communities are protected from harmful pollution is not a partisan matter,” the EPA official said. “We do enforcement at EPA based on the law, based on the facts, without regard to politics.”
“So, you know, communities should expect that EPA will continue to protect them from harmful pollution,” he added.
Hart faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 9.
