Citing 9/11, US Rejects Emission Tax Proposal For Airlines

BONN (Reuters) — The United States said on Monday it would be too harsh on airlines to tax emissions of heat-trapping gases from their planes, even though the European Union reaffirmed it was considering measures.

It would be "pretty difficult" to impose extra costs for airlines, said Harlan Watson, the senior U.S. climate negotiator, at a U.N. meeting of government experts to discuss ways to rein in global warming. "We are still recovering from September 11," he said in response to a question, referring to the impact on the airline industry of the 2001 hijacked aircraft attacks in the United States.

"Aviation is growing in some sectors of the world. It's not particularly growing in the United States," he said, adding that many airlines in the United States had been "teetering on the edge of bankruptcy".

The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that aviation causes 3.5% of global warming, widely blamed on human activities, and that the figure could rise to 15% by 2050."

EDIT

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-05-16-climate-control_x.htm

As our economy gets ground down by disappearing oil, and the fallout of climate change, the current clowns in power will just get more desperate to keep the old economy on life support. They'll give ever-bigger tax breaks to most polluting industries, and dismantle whatever environmental regs that they haven't already. Thus making the real problem worse, faster.

my understanding is,
tax on aviation fuel for international flight is
zero, by this treaty.

if so,
the EU could help out by ditching the treaty.
EU could help by, leading by example.
EU could help by, not asking the unwilling to lead their cause.

the EU seems to blame shrub for issues that
they have control of, WTF, just go do it,

this looks like, /sarcasm/ ,
the EU says, we won't bankrupt our cockroach infested airlines
unless the US goes first.