The Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report this week about the prosecution of a California man for “smuggling greenhouse gases” across the border from Mexico and selling them online.
The agency posted that it was its first “climate change arrest.”
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.
As a reminder: Hydrochlorfluorocarbons are important for refrigeration and air conditioning systems. They were initially produced to replace the “ozone-depleting” chlorofluorocarbons.
The compounds have been added to the long-list of evil “greenhouse gases” as part of the pseudoscience climate