U.S. EPA Region 5 entered into a Consent Decree (CD) with South East Metals, Inc. to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). On August 11, 2008 , EPA issued to South East Metals a Finding of Violation (FOV) pertaining to its scrap metal recycling facility in Bedford Heights, OH. The FOV alleged that South East Metals accepted for recycling automobiles and small appliances such as refrigerators and room air conditioners that contained or once contained ozone-depleting refrigerants, without either recovering the refrigerant from the vehicles and appliances or verifying that the refrigerant had been properly recovered prior to sale to South East Metals, in violation of regulations found at 40 CFR 82.156. The monetary penalty was determined to be $2,250,000, but an inability to pay determination was made by the Department of Justice. Due to this inability to pay, the penalty was reduced to $15,000. The CD requires South East Metals or their agent to properly recover the refrigerant from vehicles and appliances it accepts for scrap recycling at its Bedford Heights facility. South East Metals' refrigerant recovery program is estimated to recover approximately 120 lbs of ozone-depleting refrigerants per year. Since the refrigerants used in vehicle air conditioning systems and small appliances also are potent global-warming gases, these resolutions will, in addition to protecting the ozone layer, have the added benefit of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases equival