Leaky Air-Conditioning Systems On Subway Cars Costly to City
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The New York City Transit Authority has agreed to pay $165,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the federal government alleging that it failed to repair air-conditioning systems on its subway cars in a timely manner.
The lawsuit, brought under the Clean Air Act, claimed that the city often did not fix leaking units within the required 30 days after discovering they were losing refrigerant. The lawsuit sought to minimize the release of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons that are found in the refrigerant.
The city also allegedly did not keep accurate logs detailing how much refrigerant it added to leaky air-conditioning units while conducting repairs, according to the lawsuit, which federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed in 2004.
The settlement was announced yesterday and the city admitted no wrongdoing, according to a copy of its terms.
The allegations did not extend to all cooling units on all subway cars in the city, but only to a class of subway cars that have since been removed from service. Known as “redbirds,” those subway cars were phased out beginning in 1998 and were no longer in use by the end of 2003, according to information on the MTA’s Web site.
“This settlement underscores the Government’s commitment to ensuring that transit systems make reducing leaks of ozone-depleting substances a priority as required under the Clean Air Act and related regulation,” the U.S. attorney whose office handled the case, Mr. Garcia, said in a statement. “Such entities must be vigilant in taking steps to ensure the leaks are repaired and records are kept as required by the rules.”
Lawyers for the federal government claim that the violations of the Clean Air Act extend back to 1998.
A spokesman for the New York City Transit Authority, Charles Seaton, did not return a call for comment.
The transit authority has two months to pay the $165,000 settlement and is to be fined $1,000 for each day it is late, according to a copy of the agreement. When the federal government first filed the lawsuit, it sought to force the city to pay a $27,500 fine for every day a violation was discovered.
There is a 30-day period for public comment before the settlement goes into effect.
