The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would study the health dangers of that pollution -- the first step in the regulatory process -- and release its findings by next April. If it deems aircraft emissions a risk, it said it will begin the process of crafting rules. Advocates say that won’t be a high hurdle.
“There is no choice but to craft and adopt emissions standards for aircraft,” Vera Pardee, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit pressing the EPA to take this action, said Thursday. “And once the U.S. acts, the world will have to follow.”
Representatives of airlines such as Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and aircraft maker Boeing Co. (BA), based in Chicago, said they support a global pact on limiting emissions. They have pledged to use more efficient aircraft designs, new biofuels and better practices to curb fuel use and reduce carbon output.
“The aviation industry has set very aggressive goals to reduce emissions,” said Jessica Kowal, a spokeswoman for Boeing.
The EPA first found in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger public health, part of the Obama administration’s effort to establish fuel-economy standards for automobiles and trucks. It relied on that finding to propose regulations for carbon emissions for power plants. Given that previous determination, the finding for aircraft “is inevitable,” Pardee said.
Airlines have fought efforts in the European Union to cut carbon emissions, and say they favor an international accord under the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, instead of piecemeal rules. They praised the EPA yesterday for presenting its regulation as part of those negotiations, which the agency said will conclude in early 2016.
Aircraft Emissions May Be Next for U.S. Climate Rules
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