EU Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition

Floor Speech

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, a little bit later today the House is going to vote on the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act. This is a bill that is very important to our civilian and civil aviation operators. It would block them from participating in the European Union's emission trading scheme.

Now the reason this is important is because of this: according to Bloomberg news, the inclusion of the airline industry in the EU's 2005 cap-and-trade program will cost U.S. airline companies between--get this--$10.1- and $39.4 billion from 2012 to 2020. Now who do you think is going to pay that cost? Consumers are going to pay it.

The House has already decided we don't want a cap-and-trade system. We voted against that domestically, so why would we want our airline industry to have to participate in this on an international basis? MIT economists have looked at it and said the new rule will increase costs on passengers flying to Europe, all to subsidize their cap-and-trade systems.

With rising fuel costs and a down economy, we simply cannot afford this. So for these reasons, I urge my colleagues to protect American sovereignty to support our domestic aviation industry and vote in favor of H.R. 1956.

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