New York supermarket chain Gristedes will pay a $400,000 civil penalty and spend $13.5 million on repairs and improvements to address allegations that its store refrigerators emitted significantly more greenhouse gases than competitors’ refrigerators, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday.
Gristedes was accused of leaking 42,094 pounds of refrigerant from its stores between 2019 and 2021, the greenhouse gas equivalent of driving a gasoline-powered car 140 million miles (225 million km) — or 5,622 times around the Earth’s equator.
The Justice Department also said Gristedes “completely ignored” a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule passed as part of the Clean Air Act that requires supermarkets to monitor, repair and document commercial refrigerant leaks.
Under a consent decree, Gristedes must reduce its emissions by at least 73% from 2020 levels, and will face significant additional penalties if it fails, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
The order requires Gristedes to make necessary repairs, install advanced low-global-warming-potential refrigerants in three stores and reduce its corporate leak rate within four years to less than 16%, down from 59% in 2020.
A judge must approve the consent decree, which was signed by Gristedes’ billionaire owner, John Catsimatidis.
Gristedes did not immediately comment. The chain no longer uses ozone-depleting substances as refrigerants in its stores, but has acknowledged using hydrofluorocarbons, which are also greenhouse gases, according to the consent decree.
Gristedes, which dates back to 1888, operates 19 stores, primarily in Manhattan, according to its website.
