The US Congress - including global warming alarmists John Kerry and Barbara Boxer - is to be congratulated; it must have done the right thing, because it arouses the ire of enviro-fundamentalist Oxfam America:
A vote passed Tuesday in the Senate Commerce Committee takes climate bashing in a whole new direction. The “Thune bill” (S.1956) actually makes it illegal for the airline industry to even comply with another country’s climate law. (Since when is the European Union a country? NNoN)
Just imagine what would happen, for example, if European countries voted to make it illegal for their foods, like champagne or chocolates, to comply with US health and safety standards? That’s how bad this is.
At issue is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) which applies a uniform rule to all flights landing in or departing from EU airports regardless of origin or destination and regardless of the airline’s home country. The law was upheld in EU Court of Justice (similar to the U.S. Supreme Court) last year in a lawsuit that was brought by U.S. airlines. Since then, the House of Representatives voted to prohibit U.S. airlines from complying with the law and now the Senate has voted its companion bill out of committee with almost unanimous approval. The bill could be attached to all sorts of legislation headed to the president’s desk.
-
At issue is the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) which applies a uniform rule to all flights landing in or departing from EU airports regardless of origin or destination and regardless of the airline’s home country.
Even some of the most reliable stalwarts on climate in the Senate voted for the bill, including Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), further demonstrating the way that the aviation industry has been able to strong-arm the process. It is astounding and confounding that they would cast this vote. This may be the worst vote by Senate Democrats on climate issues since the Byrd-Hagel resolution in 1997, which cut the legs out from under U.S. engagement in international climate policy for at least a decade.
Read the entire article here
No comments:
Post a Comment