EPA calls for regulating emissions from US airliners

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday called for regulating U.S. aircraft emissions, expanding the government's effort to crack down on industries officials say are contributing to global warming.

 

The EPA issued what's known as a preliminary finding of endangerment. The agency declared the emissions are harmful to human health and contribute to climate change -- a declaration that lays the groundwork for the government to eventually regulate the airline industry.

 

Critics, though, have warned that the looming rules could eventually lead to increased ticket prices -- and more crowded flights -- as airlines try to comply with new efficiency standards.

 

“The sky is the limit when it comes to how much of the U.S. economy the EPA wants to control,” Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said in a written statement following the EPA announcement.

 

Wednesday’s finding coincides with a multi-year push by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a branch of the United Nations, to develop global aircraft emissions standards. Final agreement on the ICAO standards, a U.N. agency, is expected in February 2016. The standards themselves aren’t expected to go into effect until 2020 or even as late as 2025, according to some environmentalists following the matter.

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Fly the greener skies...