WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, ahead of tomorrow’s start of the 38^th session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assembly, sent a letter opposing the misguided European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) to Duane Woerth, Ambassador to the U.S. Mission to ICAO; Julie Oettinger, Federal Aviation Administration Assistant Administrator for Policy, International Affairs and Environment; and Todd Stern, U.S. State Department Special Envoy for Climate Change.

Last year, Thune led an effort to provide the U.S. Secretary of Transportation with the authority to ensure that U.S. aircraft operators are not penalized or harmed by the E.U.’s unilateral emissions scheme. Thune’s bill, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act, was signed into law in November of 2012 and requires that the U.S. government must “hold operators of civil aircraft of the United States harmless from the emissions trading scheme.” The legislation also directed the Secretary of Transportation and other government officials to use “their authority to conduct international negotiations to pursue a worldwide approach to address aircraft emissions” that would be based on consensus rather than the Europeans’ ill-conceived unilateral approach.

In response to Thune’s legislation and strong opposition from other foreign governments last year, the E.U. announced it would postpone collecting ETS taxes on international flights into and out of Europe until after the ICAO assembly.

A copy of Thune’s letter is attached.

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