ATW Daily News

US aviation CO2 emissions standards 'inevitably' coming

Thursday May 28, 2009

Natural Resources Defense Council International Climate Policy Director Jake Schmidt said the "writing is on the wall" regarding carbon dioxide emissions standards for US airlines.

Speaking yesterday in Washington at the Eco-Aviation conference presented by ATW and Leeham Co., he said that "no source of emissions can be left unchecked. . .Emissions controls are coming. Within the US, aviation will be covered in some form or another. Inevitably it's coming."

Schmidt noted that proposed US House of Representatives legislation sponsored by Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) calls for economy-wide carbon dioxide emissions to be 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, 42% below by 2030 and 82% lower by 2050, and specifically mandates the US Environmental Protection Agency to set CO2 emissions standards for new aircraft and new aircraft engines by 2012.

He said that "global [CO2] emissions need to peak within the next 5-10" years and then start declining in order to prevent damaging climate change, adding that "aviation needs to find its place in this declining baseline."

EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality Director-Nonroad Programs Glenn Passavant told the conference that "something has to be done in the near-term timeframe" to regulate aviation CO2 emissions. But he added that the agency is moving cautiously: "At this point in time, EPA does not have a public position on what we're going to do on aviation. . .We want to understand the intended and unintended consequences" of any new aircraft-related regulations.

US FAA Office of Environment and Energy Acting Director Lourdes Maurice said that agency also is "considering CO2 standards" and is trying to determine the "right metric" for measuring aircraft CO2 emissions.

by Aaron Karp

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