House Lawmakers Seek to Bar Airlines From EU Carbon Program

Date added: 21 July, 2011

20.7.2011 (Bloomberg)

By William McQuillen

Members of the House of Representatives are seeking to keep U.S. airlines, including
Delta Air Lines Inc and AMR Corp, from being part of the European Union’s cap-and-trade
program for greenhouse gases.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers today introduced a bill to bar U.S. carriers
from participating in the EU’s efforts next year. The program, aimed at emissions such as carbon dioxide that are linked to climate
change, would cost U.S. carriers $1.3 billion in its first year and may top $3.5
billion, Representative John Mica, the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee chairman, told reporters in Washington.

The EU plan is a “cash grab,” said Mica, a Florida Republican.

Starting next year, international airlines will have to account for emissions
on flights to and from EU airports, and offset that amount with carbon permits
from the bloc’s exchange. The EU will give airlines free allowances in 2012 for
82 percent of their historic emissions, with 15 percent auctioned and the remaining
3 percent held in a special reserve.

“The European Union plans to unilaterally thrust an emissions trading scheme
upon U.S. airlines in violation of international agreements and laws,” said Representative
Nick Rahall of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the committee.

The EU trading program is “a shell game,” Rahall said, because “no one can say
with certainty that the money will be used for its intended purpose.”

International Law

The carbon rule is “compatible with the international law,” Isaac Valero-Ladron,
spokesman for EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, said in an e-mail
today.

The EU will not back down unless the U.S. adopts similar measures with comparable
environmental effects for its air carriers, Valero-Ladron said.

The House bill would direct the U.S. Transportation secretary to prohibit carriers
from participating in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme. U.S. officials also would
be instructed to negotiate or take action to make sure the carriers aren’t penalized
by the EU plan.

Aviation accounts for about 3 percent of the EU’s total greenhouse-gas emissions
and most of the atmospheric releases come from international flights, according
to the union’s website.

“It’s sad that the only thing both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives
seem to be able to agree on is to try to stop EU action to tackle growing aircraft
pollution,” Hedegaard said in an e-mail. “In Europe we are looking forward to
the day where both parties, instead of criticizing what we do, can agree on positive
initiatives that benefit the global climate.”

see also

Airline attack on EU emissions trading system meets powerful opposition

Date Added: 6th July 2011

The EU, backed by 6 of its member states, Norway and an international coalition
of environmental organisations robustly defended the law integrating aviation
into the EU ETS at a hearing at the European Court of Justice.  EU countries including
France, Spain, Sweden, Poland, and Denmark, and led by the UK strongly rejected
the airline’s contention that aviation emissions can only be addressed by the
ICAO and that the system amounts to a unilateral tax.