When the EPA’s so-called endangerment finding is finalized in 2016, it will follow a similar determination made in 2009 that emissions from car and truck tailpipes also threaten public health because they cause climate change.
The commercial aircraft the EPA is proposing to regulate — everything from smaller commuter jets to double-decker super jumbo jets — are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the transportation sector that aren’t currently regulated. They account for 11 percent of all transportation greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
That’s about 3 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions and 0.5 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions. By comparison, greenhouse gas emissions from light-duty trucks account for 60 percent of transportation sector emissions.
“This is a proposed set of findings,” Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said. “EPA would be — under the law — obligated to move forward with emissions standards.”
He added, however, that the EPA is not proposing any specific jet aircraft emissions standards yet.
The EPA is actually doing two things simultaneously: it is saying that it may establish that airplane engines pose a big enough threat to human health that it will be required under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions from commercial aircraft operating within the U.S.
At the same time, the agency is working with the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, to develop international emissions standards for commercial jet engines. That emissions standard that would apply globally and is expected to be finalized in 2016.
The domestic regulations will take shape after the international regulations are finalized next year. Neither small piston engines nor military aircraft would be affected by new U.S. regulations on aircraft emissions.
Read more at EPA Takes Step Toward Regulating Airline Emissions
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