Aviation

Members of Congress should not try to block the European Union from requiring airlines operating in its countries to trade emissions, an environmental group said this week.

The New York-based Environmental Defense Fund said that a bill introduced this week by members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would "worsen air pollution and force U.S. airlines to violate a European anti-pollution law."

"It’s simply baffling that these legislators are working so hard to keep U.S. airlines in the dark ages of relying on inefficient airplanes and outdated technologies,” EDF International Counsel Annie Petsonk said in a statement. “This is an aggressive attempt by a few House members both to worsen pollution by scuttling a pioneering environmental law and to force U.S. airlines to become scofflaws.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

At least one newspaper contributor agrees with a woman who was arrested for groping a Transportation Security Administration agent.

The director of Charlotte Airport says the TSA "singled out" his facility during an investigation over a stowaway.

Authorities involved in the proposed expansion of Washington's MetroRail to Dulles International Airport have agreed to an above-ground station.

The investigation into the crash of a train on Amtrak's Downeaster route in New England could take awhile.

FAA might have to shut down some of its operations if Congress does not pass a funding extension by Friday.

With both parties threatening a shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration Wednesday if an agreement cannot be reached on a short-term funding measure for the agency, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said they lawmakers should save their disagreements for another day.

“Congress needs to stop playing games, work out its differences, and pass a clean FAA bill immediately. There is no excuse for not getting this done,” LaHood said in a statement released by the Department of Transportation. “Important programs and construction projects are at stake. This stalemate must be resolved.”

The current funding measure for the FAA expires Friday. The House passed a short-term extension Wednesday, but it included changes to the Essential Air Service program that provides grants to airlines for flying to rural airports that have not been included in previous short-term bills.

Rep. Mica said Senate Democrats would be blamed for an FAA shutdown if the Senate doesn't accept the House bill.

The House on Wednesday approved a rule allowing consideration of H.R. 2553, which would extend airport and airway taxes for about six weeks. These taxes help fund the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) but will expire on Friday unless extended.

The rule for the bill was approved in a 242-178 vote, and members were expected to debate and vote on the extension later Wednesday.

But while the bill is cast as an extension of FAA taxes through Sept. 16, it would also make key changes to the Essential Air Service program (EAS), which subsidizes air service in smaller communities. The EAS program costs about $200 million per year.

In what House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) called "one of the more bipartisan efforts you'll ever see in the House of Representatives," lawmakers on the panel from both parties announced Wednesday they had filed a bill to block European Union efforts to require airlines operating in its countries to trade emissions.

The measure, dubbed "The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011," would bar the EU from requiring U.S. airlines to participate in its Emissions Trading System. The system, which is similar to cap-and-trade proposals that have become politically toxic in the United States, would require airlines beginning in 2012 to trade or purpose credits for emissions generated by flights into EU member countries.

The emissions would be counted from when the plane leaves its U.S. destination, not when it enter EU airspace, which Mica said would be unfair.

"I can't think of a more … unjust scheme," he said during a Wednesday news conference at the Capitol. "At a time when aviation is already hurt by the economy and rising fuel costs, emissions trading could be a serious blow."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A woman who was arrested for allegedly assaulting a Transportation Security Administration officer will not be charged.

Airlines at Denver International Airport are still recovering from hail storms that damaged planes there.

Ridership is up on Amtrak's Kansas City-to-St. Louis route.

An air traffic controller in Colorado has been removed from his post after failing an alcohol test.

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a joint press conference Wednesday to discuss efforts to block European Union efforts to require airlines operating in its countries to trade emissions.

The influential EU has said that beginning in 2012, U.S. airlines and others flying into airports in its counties will be required to participate its Emissions Trading System, which is similar to cap-and-trade proposals that have become politically toxic in the United States.

Committee members said the EU's decision was "unilateral" and was being challenged in European court as a violation of international law.

Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee called on House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to open negotiations with the Senate over a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding bill, saying Republicans on the panel had dragged their feet on the talks.

Earlier this spring, the House and Senate passed drastically different versions of the reauthorization bill for the FAA. The Senate measure provided $34.5 billion over two years, while the House provided $59 billion over four years.

However, the House measure, which President Obama has threatened to veto, includes provisions that would make it harder for airline and railroad employees to unionize.

In a letter to Boehner obtained Tuesday by The Hill, the ranking Democrat on the Transportation Committee, Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.), said it was time for Boehner to step in and accelerate talks between the chambers.

"On April 7, 2011, the Senate requested a conference with the House on H.R. 656, the 'FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011,' and appointed conferees," Rahall wrote to Boehner. "Nevertheless, over the past 100 days, the House has taken no action to agree to a conference with the Senate to resolve the differences between the House and Senate-passed Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bills.