To answer these questions, let's return to the year 1997. In June 1997, the Committee on Natural Resources of the Nevada Assembly held a hearing to debate Assembly Bill 612 prohibiting the sale of certain highly flammable refrigerants. The refrigerants in question were used in older car fridges where they were said to cause car fires as well as asphyxiation.During the first hearing on 25 June 1997, Christina Schoser, President of Nevada Refrigerants Inc., testified in opposition to the Bill. She stated the Bill would prohibit the sale of refrigerants sold by her company Nevada Refrigerants. The products sold by Nevada Refrigerants were however legal and lawful to sell, and used in every province in Canada as well as most other countries in the world including the United States.
Five days later, on 30 June 1997, a second hearing on this issue took place. That time, Christina's husband Bob Schoser, Executive Director of the Alternative Refrigerants Association, testified in opposition to the Bill. Bob presented a video to demonstrate the safety of using hydrocarbon refrigerants in automobiles. In conclusion, Bob stated there had not been any known incidents attributed to hydrocarbon refrigerants, they were absolutely safe and were the answer the industry had been seeking.While Bob's views on the issue were unchanged arguing that the refrigerants in question would be safe, we learn something new about the impact of the ban of these refrigerants on the Schoser family. When asked by the chairman how he was related to the issue, Bob replied that his wife was President of Nevada Refrigerants that had to close in 1998 because of the previous ban.
