An Environmental Protection Agency plan to eliminate its Energy Star offices would end a decades-old program that gave consumers a choice to buy environmentally friendly refrigerators, dishwashers and other electronics and save money on electric bills, consumer and environmental groups said.
The changes, outlined in agency documents reviewed by The Associated Press, are part of a broad reorganization at the EPA that would eliminate or reorganize significant parts of the office focused on air pollution. Those plans advance President Donald Trump’s sharp turn away from the prior administration’s focus on climate change.
The EPA did not confirm directly it was ending the program, first reported Tuesday by CNN, but said the reorganization “is delivering organizational improvements to the personnel structure that will directly benefit the American people and better advance the agency’s core mission, while Powering the Great American Comeback.”
The EPA launched Energy Star in 1992 with the goal of tackling environmental protection and economic growth. It boosts the market for energy-efficient products and benefits companies that design appliances that earn the label. A home that decides to buy Energy Star products can save $450 annually on energy costs, the program’s website says.
“People recognize it right away, so they would be like ‘oh, it is Energy Star, so I should probably go with this one,’” said Francis Dietz, spokesperson with the trade association Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.