WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- Grocery store chain Trader Joe's Company has reached an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its refrigeration equipment at 453 stores across the nation in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Trader Joe's, under the settlement, will spend about $2 million over three years to reduce coolant leaks from its refrigerators and other equipment and will pay a $500,000 fine, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
The EPA discovered the leaks by determining that Trader Joe's was buying more coolant than it should have needed.
In its suit against the grocery store chain, the United States alleged that the company violated the Clean Air Act by failing to repair leaks of R-22, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon, in a timely manner. The ozone-depleting substance is a potent greenhouse gas used in refrigerators.
The suit also accused Trader Joe's of failing to keep adequate service records for that same equipment and failing to provide evidence of compliance.
By fixing the coolant leaks, the government estimated the California-based chain will eliminate as much greenhouse gas as is produced each year by about 6,500 cars, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"This settlement will assist our efforts to control these two major environmental problems," said John Cruden, the government's chief environmental lawyer. He said it will also send a message to other supermarket chains that they need to check their equipment to reduce coolant emissions.
The Costco big-box chain agreed in a previous suit brought by the government to reduce its coolant emissions, as well.
