CHICAGO (Aug. 25, 2004) -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5 has reached an agreement with Abbott Laboratories on alleged
violations of EPA regulations to protect stratospheric ozone at
the company's health-care manufacturing plant at 1401 Sheridan
Road, North Chicago, Ill. EPA assessed a $17,903 penalty, and the
company agreed to complete an additional environmental project.
"Abbott has agreed to retrofit two refrigeration units to
use EPA-approved non-ozone depleting refrigerants," said Acting
Regional Administrator Bharat Mathur. "We're pleased because
this $123,000 project does more than the law requires, and goes
beyond what EPA had sought." He said Abbott will also retrofit
five other units as part of a consent order issued simultaneously.
The agreement resolves an EPA complaint filed at the same time
alleging that Abbott failed to repair chillers that leaked excessive
amounts of stratospheric ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants,
or "CFCs." In addition, EPA alleged the company violated
planning, testing, retrofitting and retirement requirements for
the chillers.
When CFC refrigerants deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, dangerous
amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the sun strike
the earth. Production of some of these chemicals was stopped in
1995, and federal law strictly controls their use and handling.
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