EPA intends to regulate emissions from airliners

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration proposed Wednesday to regulate aircraft emissions in much the same way as power plants, saying they are a threat to human health because they contain pollutants that help cause global warming.

Using its authority under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency finding of endangerment to human health clears the way for possible U.S. adoption of international emissions standards.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, a U.N. agency, has been working for several years on developing global aircraft emissions standards for the first time. Final agreement on those standards is expected in February.

U.S. regulations would apply only to large planes like airliners and cargo jets and turboprop aircraft, and not to smaller jet aircraft, piston-engine planes, helicopters or military aircraft.

While negotiations on the standards are still underway, they aren’t expected to go into effect until 2020 or afterward, and possibly as late as 2025, say environmentalists following the matter.

The ICAO standards are also not expected to apply to airliners in service today or those that might be purchased before the effective date, said Vera Pardee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Airlines typically fly planes for 20 years or more before replacing them. That means it’s likely to be decades before planes that meet the anticipated global standards are in widespread use.

Aircraft manufacturers have already made significant strides in increasing fuel efficiency. Since the early years of the jet age in the 1960s, the fuel efficiency of airliners has increased 70 percent, according to Boeing.

The U.S. airline industry has set a target of an average annual improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5 percent, and so far has been successful in meeting that goal, said Nancy Young, vice president for environmental affairs at Airlines for America, trade association for major carriers.

The world’s two largest aircraft makers have recently introduced into service more fuel-efficient planes designed for long-distance international routes – the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350.

Airlines, aircraft makers and the Federal Aviation Administration have also been working with biofuels companies to develop alternatives to jet fuel that could potentially reduce the aviation’s industry’s vulnerability to the ups and downs of oil supplies and prices, as well as reduce carbon emissions.