"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to grant a petition by three nonprofit organizations to withdraw its approval for the potent greenhouse gas HFC-134a to be used in new automobile air conditioning systems.

The decision, announced Wednesday, will be followed by a formal rulemaking process to set the phase-out schedule.

The petition was filed by the three groups as part of their worldwide campaign to eliminate hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs, which are powerful greenhouse gases with long atmospheric lifetimes.

The U.S. EPA approved the use of HFCs for mobile air conditioning at a time when safer alternatives were not available, and when fast action was needed to replace an even more climate damaging chemical, CFC-12. "

Environment News Service had the story March 24, 2011. [2]