EPA Proposes Airplane Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards £ , J- In this action, the Administrator is proposing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards that would apply to certain new commercial airplanes, including all large passenger jets. These proposed standards would match the international airplane carbon dioxide (C02) standards adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2017. This proposed action would implement EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act and would assure the worldwide acceptance of U.S. manufactured airplanes and airplane engines. Acceptance of U.S. Manufactured Airplanes Worldwide The proposed standards would harmonize with the international standards and provide global consistency, ensuring all the world's manufacturers meet the same standards. The proposed rule, if adopted, would help U.S. manufactured airplanes and airplane engines be accepted by nations and airlines around the world, since nations may ban the use of any airplane within their airspace that does not meet ICAO standards. Also, if the EPA were to adopt no standards or standards that were not as stringent as ICAO's standards, U.S. airplane manufacturers could be forced to seek C02 emissions certification from an aviation certification authority of another country (rather than the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)) in order to market their airplanes for international operation. Scope of Covered Airplanes The proposed standards would address subsonic jet aircraft with a maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) greater than 5,700 kilograms and subsonic propeller driven airplanes (e.g., turboprops) with a MTOM greater than 8,618 kilograms. Examples include larger business jets such as the Cessna Citation CJ3+, the larger commercial jet aircraft - the Boeing 777 and the Boeing 787, and larger civil turboprop airplanes such as the CU ATR 72 and the Viking Q400. These are same types of airplanes covered by the & international aircraft C02 standard. £\ United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Transportation and Air Quality E PA-42 0- F-20-040 July 2020 ------- The proposed GHG standards would apply to new type design airplanes on or after January 1, 2020 and to in-production airplanes on or after January 1, 2028. They would not apply to already manufactured airplanes that are currently in-use. New type design airplanes are newly developed airplane designs that have not previously been type certificated by the FAA and are not yet being built or flown. In-production airplanes are new airplanes with designs that have already been type certificated by FAA and are already in production, and these airplanes will continue to be produced and sold after the effective date of the standards. The Clean Air Act and Airplane Regulation EPA and FAA have long cooperated in regulating airplane emissions, by first helping ICAO de- velop international emission standards and then issuing rules under Clean Air Act (CAA) sections 231 and 232 to establish domestic standards and ensure compliance with the standards. In 2017, ICAO adopted the first-ever international standards to regulate C02 emissions from airplanes. In this proposed rulemaking, EPA is using section 231 of the CAA to adopt equivalent airplane GHG emission standards domestically. 2016 Findings Background In 2016, under section 231 of the Clean Air Act, EPA found that: (1) concentrations of six well- mixed GHGs in the atmosphere—CO?, methane, nitrous oxide (N?0), hydrofluorocarbons, per- fluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride—endanger the public health and welfare of current and future generations, and (2) GHGs emitted from certain classes of engines used in certain aircraft are contributing to that endangering air pollution. Airplane engines emit two of the six well-mixed GHGs, CO, and N?0. Accordingly, EPA is proposing GHG standards that match the ICAO fuel- efficiency-based standards, which control the GHGs emitted by airplane engines, CO, and N?0. Aircraft GHG Emissions The U.S. transportation sector is a significant contributor to total U.S. anthropogenic GHG emissions. Aircraft remain the single largest GHG-emitting transportation source not yet subject to GHG standards in the U.S. U.S. aircraft covered by the proposed rule (this includes all domestic flights and international flights originating in the U.S.) emit: • 10 percent of GHG emissions from the transportation sector in the U.S. • 3 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions. Public Participation We welcome your comments on this proposed rule. Comments will be accepted for 60 days begin- ning when this proposal is published in the Federal Register. All comments should be identified by ------- Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0276, and submitted at www.regulations.gov. For additional submission methods, please visit www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. EPA will announce the public hearing date and location for this proposal in a supplemental Federal Register document. For More Information You can access the proposed rulemaking on EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) website: www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/regulations-greenhouse-gas-emissions-aircraft ------- |