TAKE ACTION NOW!!

Are you a regular reader of HAI’s RotorNews?  Have you read the latest Rotor Magazine article on Cap and Trade?  Is “CO2” or “cap and trade” in your vocabulary?  Do you know what Democrats in Congress are legislating to add taxes and costs for your helicopter operation based on CO2 emissions from your aircraft?  Are you going to stand up and make your voice heard in Washington?

Under a cap and trade program, businesses would buy and sell permits allowing them the right to emit certain amounts of greenhouse gases.  Entities emitting less than 25,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year would not be covered by the program as proposed.  However, it is important to note that this number is not set in stone, and many HAI operators could ultimately find themselves facing a stiff carbon tax!  Larger operators definitely surpass the threshold based upon initial HAI analysis on this issue which is still underway.

Details of the cap and tax system and the resulting legislation continue to be negotiated behind closed doors in Congress, primarily in the U.S. House of Representatives, by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  HAI has been closely tracking this legislation for a number of months and providing regular and consistent detailed reports on our website.

With the release earlier this week of a 900+ page climate change bill, Congress is clearly directing the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the authority to promulgate standards applicable to emission of greenhouse gases from new aircraft and new engines used in aircraft by December 31, 2012.  The House bill would direct the EPA Administrator to consult with the FAA Administrator to set standards applicable to emissions of greenhouse gases from other classes and categories of aircraft and aircraft engines where the EPA Administrator determines it is appropriate and in the timeframe the EPA Administrator determines appropriate.  Further, the EPA Administrator could revise the standards at any time.

The Supreme Court in its reading of the Clean Air Act, granted EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gases that threaten the atmosphere.  Any regulatory action from the EPA could take time to implement, but HAI is not betting on the future and is extremely concerned with what could quickly become a huge tax on our industry and one that is based on the European model for climate change.
How do you know how much CO2 your operation and, in particular, your aircraft are emitting?    Data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that one gallon of Avgas produces approximately 18.4 pounds of CO2 when burned.  Making your calculation is simple!  Conklin and DeDecker have developed a CO2 calculator for business aviation aircraft which allows the user to select the aircraft type, make and model, hours flown per year, and then populate fuel consumption while providing CO2 emissions and offset costs per year.  Data can be calculated for over 350 business jets, turboprops, helicopters and piston airplanes.  Visit Conklin and DeDecker’s website at www.conklindd.com/members, sign up for the Members Only area, and you will quickly have an idea of how much CO2 your operation is burning each year.

The 27-nation European Union first imposed a cap and trade system in 2005, and last year the European Commission and European Parliament voted to explicitly include airlines in the system beginning in 2012.  Under the legislation moving through the House, oil companies would be responsible for the emissions created by the transportation fuels they produce.  Those costs would be passed down to aviation entities when they buy aviation fuel.

Unlike other industries, aviation has a United Nations body in which it could theoretically work out its own solution.  However, the 25 nations of the EU represent a considerable voting bloc in ICAO.  Unfortunately, the US and its carriers are not accustomed to considering the political climate in other nations.  Thus, all the American carriers and the aviation industry in general appear to be able to do is to seek to block the Europeans in ICAO.  This is not the approach the helicopter industry should take in addressing our concerns over cap and trade legislation and the associated costs for CO2 emissions by aircraft.

What can you do?  What should you do?  CONTACT CONGRESS!  Take advantage of HAI’s quick and easy Congressional Link on our home page and let your lawmakers in Washington know what you think about this issue and the ultimate financial impact a carbon tax will have on your helicopter operation.
What should you tell your lawmaker?

•    HAI supports an exemption on aircraft used for fire suppression, as firefighting reduces carbon dramatically.  When forests are thinned, we sequester carbon in the trees removed for manufacturing into products, and when thinning the forest, our activities further enhance carbon sequestration by promoting more rapid forest growth.  Last year alone, ten million acres of forests burned, meaning that 60 million tons of CO2 was spewed into the air.  Between 2000 and 2005, according to the EPA, 562.3 million metric tons of carbon was unleashed upon the atmosphere by forest fires.
•    It is the belief of many in our industry that helicopter operators should receive a credit much greater than the false calculation of carbon we produce or be exempt from carbon tax for forest thinning activities.  Actively managed forests can lead to at least a 50-60 percent reduction in the current level of acreage burned due to a wildfire according to the Forest Science Journal.
•    Emergency Medical Service (EMS) flights, the primary purpose of which is to save human lives or reduce the costs associated with medical care, should also be exempt from the carbon tax. 
•    In addition, helicopters providing support to the oil industry in the conduct of oil and gas exploration should also be exempt from a carbon tax.  Oil-patch Democrats from Texas are already pushing for refineries to receive a sufficient amount of free emission credits, at least early on in a market-based cap and trade program.
•    Any monies collected from the helicopter industry for a cap and trade system should be funneled back into the aviation system, where the funds could be used to modernize air traffic control and fund research into alternative fuels and next-generation aircraft engines.
•    Tell your Congressman or Congresswoman or U.S. Senator the total number of employees you have, the impact your business has on the local economy, and give him or her some idea as to how much this carbon tax could cost your operation.

Don’t delay.  Take action how and make sure you send that message to Washington and keep sending that message over and over again to make sure our position is known on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats alike.  Don’t depend on everyone else in the industry to send your message!
HAI will continue to report on this issue and urge our members to be proactive in opposing costly cap and trade schemes on the aviation industry.