The Environmental Protection Agency sent its final aircraft greenhouse gas emissions rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review Thursday. The EPA reports that aircraft are the largest non-regulated source of greenhouse gases in the United States.
It’s estimated that the final regulation will be published in the Federal Registry in July, far ahead of the estimated one or two-year timeline anticipated by environmental groups.
The regulation was sparked by a lawsuit filed by environmental groups in 2010 to force the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases emitted by aircraft. The EPA began the rulemaking process in 2015, but green groups again sued the agency last month for allegedly dragging its feet in implementing the rule.
According to the EPA, aircraft in the United States account for 11 percent of the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, 3 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from all aircraft globally and a half-percent of total world greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the proposed regulation, all subsonic jets with a maximum takeoff mass of 5,700 kilograms and all subsonic propeller-driven planes with a maximum takeoff mass of 8,618 kilograms would be subject to the rule.
