EPA ISSUES RULE ON AIRCRAFT EMISSIONS
October 14, 2020
On August 20, 2020, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule that for the first time would impose a standard for limiting emissions from nearly all commercial aircraft. If enacted, the rule would apply to civil subsonic jet airplanes with a maximum takeoff mass greater than 5,700 kilograms and to larger civil subsonic propeller-driven airplanes with turboprop engines having a maximum takeoff mass greater than 8,618 kilograms. Military aircraft are excluded from the rule. EPA’s proposed standard closely follows the standard adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2017. Both the 2005 Kyoto Protocol and the 2016 Paris Climate Accord ceded authority over civil aviation’s role in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation to ICAO. Like the ICAO standard, the EPA standard would apply to all covered aircraft for which a new design type certificate is requested on or after January 1, 2020, and would apply to in-production aircraft beginning January 1, 2028. However, modifications to in-production aircraft that would result in an increase in GHG emissions would advance applicability of the rule to January 1, 2023, for those aircraft.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6622); Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6665), or Andy Orr (aorr@eckertsemans.com or 202-659-6625).
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