A draft version of pandemic relief legislation to be introduced Monday by House Democrats would require airlines that receive financial assistance to offset their carbon emissions.
The greenhouse gas-related provisions have outraged Republicans in the Senate, who say that demand, as well as efforts to include extensions of wind and solar tax credits, have stalled negotiations over a compromise relief package.
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“Are you kidding me? This is not the moment to debate new regulations that have nothing whatsoever to do with this crisis,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday during heated remarks on the Senate floor. Senate Democrats on Sunday sank a procedural vote on the $2 trillion relief package.
Democrats in both chambers, as well as environmental groups, have urged that any financial assistance for airlines come with restrictions on the sector’s emissions. A range of options has been floated, including a binding cap on airline emissions and funding for research and development of sustainable jet fuel and zero-emissions aircraft technologies.
A draft of the House Democratic bill obtained by the Washington Examiner includes requirements that airlines receiving federal assistance under the relief package begin offsetting their carbon emissions for domestic flights starting in 2025. The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration would have to set up the offset requirements within 90 days of the bill’s enactment and would also develop standards to ensure the offsets are “real, additional, permanent, verifiable, and not double-counted.”
In addition, under the bill, the FAA administrator would require each air carrier receiving assistance to set its own binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, putting it on a path to slash emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2050. It would also require air carriers that receive federal funds under the relief package to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions from individual flights to passengers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is unveiling the Democratic legislation Monday afternoon. A House Democratic aide cautioned that the draft does not reflect the updated legislation.
House Republicans are already slamming the inclusion. “Democrats are taking advantage of this pandemic to check items off their wishlist while watching the American people suffer, and it’s truly horrifying,” tweeted Georgia congressman Doug Collins, linking to the offset language.
Environmentalists, though, say the airline provisions head in the right direction, keeping the industry accountable to the public as it receives financial assistance.
“Speaker Pelosi’s legislation puts people first and rightly requires industries that need a bailout to address the substantial harm they are inflicting on the climate,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Making the aviation industry fully address all of their emissions is a fair trade for getting $60 billion in taxpayer money to bail out their reckless behavior.”
