DC Circuit affirms aviation emission standards

WASHINGTON (CN) — A D.C. Circuit panel Friday unanimously approved a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to align federal aviation emission standards with those of an international regulator.

The three-judge panel rejected a petition from 12 states and the District of Columbia calling for a review of the rule, saying the original rule from the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, did not go far enough and by affirming it, the EPA failed to consider the potential benefits of new and emerging technology.

U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote in the court’s opinion that the EPA’s 2021 decision to adopt the standards set by the U.N. agency in 2017 was reasonable considering the potential issues a patchwork approach could create for airplane manufacturers.

“Having concluded it was of paramount importance that the global community align on the ICAO standards, the EPA determined it would be preferable for regulatory developments to be channeled through that process, rather than through uncoordinated domestic regulations across member states,” Rao wrote on Friday.

The 2017 rule set limits on the CO2 emissions of jet airplanes and propeller-driven airplanes designed after 2020 or in production by 2028.

Soon after the EPA adopted the rule, states such as Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut and New Jersey sued over concerns that the federal agency valued conforming to international standards more than addressing the harms of climate change.

Rao, along with U.S. Circuit Court Judge J. Michelle Childs, a Joe Biden appointee, and Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Judith Rogers, a Bill Clinton appointee, disagreed with the states’ argument, finding instead that the EPA’s decision would likely address climate change better in the long-term than any harsher standards.

“Implementing more stringent domestic regulations, even if beneficial in the short term, could undermine confidence in the ICAO process or make it more difficult to coordinate more stringent international standards in the future,” Rao wrote.

The aviation industry accounted for approximately 2% of global CO2 emissions in 2021, according to the most recent analysis by the International Energy Agency. Prior to the pandemic, however, the aviation industry accounted for about 2.5% of total CO2 emissions in 2018.

Several environmental activist organizations, such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club, also sued the EPA in 2021, which was then consolidated into this case. Joanne Spalding, then chief climate counsel for the Sierra Club decried the “outdated, ineffective standard” in a 2021 statement..

“Strong federal action is necessary to curb emissions from aviation, a significant and growing source of pollution,” Spalding said.

The EPA’s decision was particularly controversial, as it was enacted in the waning days of former President Donald Trump’s administration, going into effect on Jan. 11, 2021, just nine days before President Joe Biden was set to take office.

On the day of his inauguration, the Biden White House included the rule in a long list of agency actions he was targeting for review. Since then, the president proposed tax incentives for green fuel as part of his Build Back Better plan but has not proposed any new emission standards.

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