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House GOP: Senate airline emissions ban passage a 'positive sign'
The Senate's passage of a bill that would block European countries from requiring U.S. airlines to submit to emission caps is "a positive sign," an aide to House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said Monday, although the measure is likely to languish until after the November elections.
The Senate passed its version of the airline emissions trading ban over the weekend. The measure contains key differences with legislation that was passed by the House to bar the emissions rules from applying to U.S. airlines last year.
But House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee aide Justin Harclerode said Monday that the lower chamber was glad the Senate approved a version of the measure of its own.
"It's a positive sign the Senate passed a bill, and we're looking at how we may be able to move forward," he said in an email.
Earlier Monday, the Republican sponsor of the Senate's version of the anti-emissions trading bill called on the lower chamber to accept its language on the legislation.
“I hope the House will quickly take action on my bipartisan legislation so the president can sign this bill to prevent the EU’s unlawful attack on American sovereignty,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said after passage of the bill, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).
The Senate’s version of the emissions ban contains a provision that enables the United States to reassess the exemption for American airlines if the European system is altered or if there’s an international agreement on airline emissions or U.S. rulemaking to address the pollution.
Airlines have called for allowing its own industry to address emission requirements, calling for a resolution from the organization that regulates international air travel, the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The House version of the emissions ban makes no mention of ending the exemption from U.S. airlines.
Airlines have said that without a legislative ban, they will have to begin making payments for emissions on flights to countries within the EU in April 2013.
Under the rules, airlines will have to reduce their emissions from 2006 levels by 3 percent by 2013 and 5 percent by 2020.
The enforcement mechanisms and fines for noncompliance are similar to cap-and-trade proposals environmentalists once tried to push in the United States.
