Letter Promises 'Appropriate Action' Against EU Should The Press Forward

The NBAA is among the organizations applauding a strongly-worded letter from two high-ranking U.S. government officials to European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso, warning that Washington will take "appropriate action" if the EU continues demanding that aircraft flagged in the U.S. participate in Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS).

(L-R) Secretary Clinton, Secretary LaHood

In a December 16 letter, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Barroso: "We strongly object on legal and policy grounds to the EU's plan to subject our operators to the EU's ETS. The EU is increasingly isolated on this issue.

"The EU's Directive, the letter continues, "is the wrong way to achieve our shared objective of addressing emissions from international aviation. The EU's application of the ETS to…non-EU States is inconsistent with the legal regime governing international aviation and with ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization] guidance on emissions trading."

Their letter was accompanied by what Clinton and LaHood called a "partial list" of more than 20 nations opposed to EU-ETS.

NBAA was among 17 organizations that recently sent a letter thanking Clinton and LaHood for their action on the issue. In their letter, the signing organizations noted, "We understand that the Administration is considering next steps to block this unlawful and exorbitant scheme. We strongly support such action, as the U.S. government has the tools not only to reject the EU’s unilateral imposition of this scheme on the U.S. and its airlines and aircraft operators, but to work to get the EU and its Member States back to the table at ICAO to flesh out and implement the global sectoral approach framework provisionally agreed in 2010."

NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen thanked the government leaders for taking action on the industry's alarm over the EU-ETS. "The secretaries correctly point out that ICAO, as an arm of the United Nations, is the proper authority under which plans for further addressing aircraft emissions be developed for the world's aviation community," Bolen said.

FMI: www.nbaa.org