US President Barack Obama signed into law on 27 November legislation that enables the country’s transportation secretary to “prohibit” US airlines from participating in the European Union’s (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
After the European Commission (EC) agreed earlier in November to temporarily suspend the ETS for flights to/from the EU, the US House of Representatives went ahead and cleared the anti-ETS bill passed by the Senate in September, moving the legislation to the president’s desk. Obama signing the bill doesn’t start the international battle that might have ensued had he done so before the EC’s temporary back down, but the law theoretically gives the US more leverage in future negotiations.
The law signed by Obama states that the transportation secretary can bar US carriers from participating in the EU ETS if doing so would be “in the public interest,” particularly taking into account “the impacts on US consumers, US carriers and US operators; the impacts on the economic, energy and environmental security of the United States; and the impacts on US foreign relations, including existing international commitments.”
It additionally green lights the transportation secretary (currently Ray LaHood) to “take other actions under existing authorities … to hold operators of civil aircraft of the United States harmless from the emissions trading scheme.” The law also gives the secretary the authority to “reassess” a prohibition on US airline’s participation in the ETS if the EU amends the scheme or an international agreement on aircraft emissions is reached.
Source: ATW