NATIONAL NEWS
Streetsblog Network: If Congress Cared About Climate, Its Transport Bill Would Look Much Different
With a few exceptions, the five-year transportation bill heading to President Obama’s desk continues what has been the core function of federal transportation policy for more than 60 years — sending a ton of money to the states to spend on highways.
Switchboard: FAST Act Breakdown: The Sum of All Lobbies
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dlovaas/fast_act_breakdown_the_sum_of_.html
The new 1300-page transportation bill (Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, or FAST) provides little strategic direction on that subject. Instead, it's a grab-bag of favors for lobbyists layered on top of a status-quo highway-heavy program with an intercity rail authorization thrown in. Steve Davis of Transportation for America has a good summary write-up of many important issues (including the freight program dominated by highways) here while Jeff Davis of the Eno Center for Transportation (who always has spreadsheets handy) has very usefully provided breakdowns of spending by program and state. This huge spending bill dishes out more than $300 billion of taxpayer money, mostly to state highway agencies whose chiefs must now be held accountable for spending our hard-earned money well.
Alternet: Clinton vs. Sanders: How Their Infrastructure Plans Measure Up
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/clinton-vs-sanders-how-their-infrastructure-plans-measure
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has announced a plan for infrastructure investment. How does her plan stack up against that of her chief competitor, Bernie Sanders?
Also, how will Clinton and Sanders pay for their plans? On that question, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) recently came up with a set of principles we can use to judge this.
STATE NEWS
The Wall Street Journal: Amtrak Faces Prospect of Private Competition
http://www.wsj.com/articles/amtrak-faces-prospect-of-private-competition-1449266250
Amtrak’s cross-country service has long been a drain on the national passenger railroad’s finances. Now, some of the money-losing routes that link major U.S. cities and cut through rural America could be headed for private hands.
Star Tribune: Minnesota’s Growing Divide
http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-s-growing-divide-a-three-part-series/353175091/
The urban/rural divide is growing wider in Minnesota in key measures of age, income educational attainment, race and culture. Those gaps threaten the states ability to reach its full potential and to provide all Minnesotans with an opportunity for a high quality of life. In the three-art series "Better Together," the Star Tribune Editorial Board explores the divide and offers solutions for strengthening the state's internal union.
The Washington Post: How D.C. spent $200 million over a decade on a streetcar you still can’t ride
The District is spending three or four times what other cities have to build a maintenance facility for its fledging streetcar system, a reflection of the flawed planning and execution that have dragged down the transit start-up for more than a decade.
Crain’s Detroit Business: Detroit auto show organizers hunt for more parking space
The North American International Auto Show is on the lookout for places to park cars that won’t grace the show floor. With downtown Detroit’s swelling employee ranks filling up formerly underutilized office buildings and parking lots, show organizers have to get creative. Max Muncey, NAIAS public relations manager, acknowledged that downtown employees who use monthly parking are on a definite upswing, “so from a show perspective, we are looking into numerous parking venues…
The Columbian: Sound Transit releases options for light rail
http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/dec/05/sound-transit-releases-options-for-light-rail/
SEATTLE — A second downtown light-rail tunnel could be the centerpiece of a possible 25-year, $27 billion Sound Transit package on next fall’s ballot.
Fairfield Daily Voice: Connecticut Gets Funds To Finish Hartford Line Commuter Rail Service
FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Friday an agreement with Amtrak to complete the Hartford line, receiving guaranteed agreements for cost ceilings and a clear timetable for work completion.
Technically Philly: Self-driving cars could reduce city traffic … or create a lot more: Penn professor
An oncoming rush of self-driving cars is creating uncertainty for urban planners as they make infrastructure decisions for the future, according to a panel at the University of Pennsylvania.
Quad-City Times: Bike-friendly projects funded in central Iowa through grants
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Central Iowa is making a push for bicycle transportation, using a new round of grant dollars.
POLTICO Morning Transportation
By Jennifer Scholtes | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
With help from Martine Powers, Lauren Gardner and Heather Caygle
HOUSE TAKES ON VISA WAIVER REVAMP WITH OBAMA'S BACKING: Now seemingly with President Barack Obama's blessing, the House prepares to easily pass a bipartisan overhaul (H.R. 158) this week of the Visa Waiver program. Although he didn't specifically comment this weekend on the measure House lawmakers plan to pass on Tuesday, Obama noted that he has ordered the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the program and voiced the administration's support for congressional efforts to reconsider visa policy. "We should put in place stronger screening for those who come to America without a visa, so that we can take a hard look at whether they've traveled to war zones," he said. "And we're working with members of both parties in Congress to do exactly that."
Slip up: The president staked that stance during his special address Sunday night on the mass shooting last week in California, calling that incident "an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people." But he incorrectly stated that the "female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country" through the Visa Waiver program. As POLITICO's Nahal Toosi so astutely notes , "that assailant, Tashfeen Malik, came under a fiancé visa." The Visa Waiver program - which allows citizens from 38 partner countries visit the United States for up to 90-day stints without having to apply for visas - is specifically designed for business travelers and tourists. And the program bars eligibility for foreigners looking to enter the U.S. for school, employment or permanent residence.
Widespread support: In the House, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are rallying behind the Visa Waiver bill that's been teed up for this week. Besides unanimous approval from the Homeland Security Committee this summer, there also seems to be a swelling of support for the more-stringent language leaders detailed last week, as evidenced by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer's prediction that the measure will pass "with bipartisan, big majorities."
'One flight away': House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul told Fox News over the weekend that the Visa Waiver program "is a huge security gap. ... The Congress understands that, as does the White House." McCaul's counterpart on the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, issued a statement Sunday night registering his hope that the House does in fact succeed in passing the bill. Strengthening the program, Thompson says, is one way the nation can continue "the hard work we have done to fight radicalization and terrorism both at home and across the globe." And Rep. Candice Miller, who authored the legislation, focused on Visa Waiver vulnerabilities in the weekly GOP address on Saturday. "The next terrorist to attack our country could be only one flight away," Miller said. "We need to think clearly. And clearly, we have a major weakness in our Visa Waiver program, a glaring hole that we have to close. Members of ISIS will use every means within their power to attack our country. ... We must act now."
Not so fast: Bipartisan House support and a thumbs-up from the White House doesn't necessarily mean a Visa Waiver overhaul will become law in short order, though. In the Senate, Democrats are still trying to unify behind one particular plan and Republican leaders have said little about what kind of proposal they might back.
IT'S MONDAY: Good morning and thanks for tuning into POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes.
"You can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train." (H/t Peter Hollinshead)
THIS WEEK: While a government shutdown isn't expected come Friday, congressional leaders still need to either pull through with enactment of an omnibus spending bill or a temporary funding patch in the next few days. The Senate's still keeping its regular schedule today, but House lawmakers are altogether skipping votes this evening to attend the White House holiday party.
Both chambers will be back at it on Tuesday, though - the day the House plans to take up that Visa Waiver bill. The rest of the week is uncharacteristically packed with transportation security events, too, with McCaul hosting a "State of Homeland Security" address this afternoon that's sure to touch on Visa Waiver issues and maybe some TSA talk.
On Tuesday, House Homeland lawmakers press a top TSA official about aviation threats and security at "last point of departure" airports. On Wednesday, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger speaks at an American Association of Airport Executives conference in Arlington and Senate Commerce marks up two airport security bills. On Thursday, House Oversight hosts a joint subcommittee hearing on terrorism and the Visa Waiver program.
Other headliners:
Tuesday - A House Oversight subcommittee holds a hearing on program consolidation under MAP-21. The House T&I Aviation Subcommittee holds a roundtable on FAA air traffic controller staffing.
Wednesday - Senate Commerce also marks up a new iteration (S. 571) of the "Pilot's Bill of Rights."
HONEYMOONIN'S OVER. TIME FOR MORE TRANSPO WORK: Nearly every line of praise for the five-year transportation plan Congress cleared last week and the president signed on Friday has been followed by an obligatory "but." The basic sentiment: while it's great to have a half decade of funding certainty, transportation leaders need to immediately get to work on a reliable revenue source so they can kick in more money and avoid having to scrounge around for unrelated pay-fors in the years to come.
Prefaced praise: Preparing to sign the bill on Friday, Obama threw in his own congratulatory caveat. "As we applaud the kind of bipartisan compromise that was reached last night, we should also recognize that we still have work to do," he said in a written statement. "Congress should pass a bill like the GROW AMERICA Act I've proposed in the past, one that supports even more jobs and invests even more in our roads and highways than the bill passed last night so we can meet our country's infrastructure needs."
'Down payment': Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sent a similarly mixed message, both cheering lawmakers' work and urging them to do more. "The good news is that the long winter of uncertainty for state DOTs has come to an end," the secretary said in a blog post . "This is a down-payment for building a 21st century transportation system, though it is still far short of the amount needed to reduce congestion on our roads and meet the increasing demands on our transportation systems. ... We should celebrate this milestone, but members of Congress should also understand that more needs to be done and should strive to pass a bill like the GROW AMERICA Act."
Looking ahead: Legislators seem to know that enactment of the five-year bill hasn't gotten them off the hook. Even before Congress had cleared the measure last week, T&I Chairman Bill Shuster told reporters that, "as soon as the president signs this, we've got to bring the stakeholder community to the table" to come up with a long-term fix.
AVIATION, SHIPPING STANDARDS MAKE FOR TRICKY CLIMATE TALKS: Climate negotiators meeting right now in Paris laid out an option in their draft deal over the weekend to direct U.N. organizations to set targets for shipping and aviation emissions. But POLITICO Europe's Sara Stefanini, reporting from Le Bourget, explains that the process is complicated for two major reasons: "Both ships and planes are regulated by separate United Nations organizations, and aren't formally part of the U.N.-led climate talks," and "the two industries are economic powerhouses, making some countries reluctant to enact expensive regulations."
FIZZED OFF - ALCOHOL LOBBY FIGHTS VEHICLE SENSORS: Who is vexed about the FAST Act? The American Beverage Institute, whose leaders worry that the bill - which requires NHTSA to spend $21 million on a program to develop passive, in-car alcohol sensors - will end up forcing the "intrusive technology" on all drivers. The group forecasts that the devices would have a built-in safety margin, raising the alarm when a driver's blood alcohol content exceeds .04 or .05. From ABI's managing director, Sarah Longwell: "We shouldn't force all Americans to pay for and install these devices in their cars when the vast majority of Americans drink moderately and responsibly or not at all."
RIDE SHARING ON THE RISE: A survey conducted by the Travel Technology Association finds that the number of Americans engaging in the peer-to-peer economy - i.e., vehicle ride-sharing and short-term rental platforms - has increased 144 percent since 2014. That's convenient, since AirBnB became a member of the association last year.
MT MAILBAG: A bipartisan group of lawmakers has sent a letter off to OMB Director Shaun Donovan, asking that the agency speed its review of regulations for general aviation aircraft so the FAA can move ahead with its rulemaking by the end of this year and be ready for an international meeting in early January. "While the timeframe is short, this is a critical step necessary for the FAA to lead technical discussions at a milestone meeting of global aviation authorities," the lawmakers write. "FAA has stated this effort will double real-world safety while cutting certification costs in half. The FAA must move forward now or it risks losing its international leadership."
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
- Volkswagen holds talks with core investor in Qatar. The Wall Street Journal.
- Railroads beat back new safety rules after derailments. The Associated Press.
- European Council strikes deal on passenger name records. POLITICO Pro.
- Senate Democrats to push multi-pronged domestic security bill. Reuters.
- For technology firms, the racetrack is a lab. The New York Times.
- The ambitious streetcar project for the District that has fallen flat. The Washington Post.
- Norfolk Southern rejects Canadian Pacific's $28 billion bid. Forbes.
- Britain steps up security on transport system after stabbing on underground. The Wall Street Journal.
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 5 days. FAA reauthorization expires in 117 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 339 days.
NEW TOOL FEATURE - POLITICO PRO LEGISLATIVE COMPASS : Pro's Legislative Compass offers you the ability to do more than just track legislation. The tool leverages 20 years of data and boasts features such as: a personalized dashboard, a member comparison feature and bill text comparison. As a bonus, we're offering policy professionals complimentary access to our Legislative Compass for a limited time. Schedule a call with your account manager to set up your complimentary access.
THE DAY AHEAD:
All day - The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement hosts a drone conference. Sheraton Pentagon City, 900 S. Orme St., Arlington, Va.
8:30 a.m. - Homeland Security Secretary Johnson talks about counterterrorism, cybersecurity and border security at an event hosted by Defense One. District Architecture Center, 421 7th St. N.W.
8:30 a.m. - The FAA holds a meeting of an RTCA special committee on aeronautical information and meteorological data link services. RTCA Inc., 1150 18th St. N.W., Suite 910.
12:30 p.m. - House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul hosts a "State of Homeland Security" address. National Defense University, 300 5th Ave. S.W.
2 p.m. - The Telecommunications Industry Association and the International Telecommunication Union hold a meeting on communications standards for connected vehicles. TIA, 1320 N. Courthouse Rd., Suite 200, Arlington, Va.
2:30 p.m. - Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx holds a conference call "to make a major funding announcement that will promote innovation in transportation."
4 p.m. - The FRA holds a meeting to evaluate the Washington Union Station Expansion Project's potential effects on people and the environment. Union Station, Presidential Room, 50 Massachusetts Ave. N.E.
Did we miss an event? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com.
Stories from POLITICO Pro
Obama: 'The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it' Back
By Sarah Wheaton | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
President Barack Obama urged Americans to stay calm and vigilant, using a rare Oval Office address Sunday night to reassure the nation that his approach to fighting Islamic extremism is working.
In the wake of deadly attacks in Paris and California, Obama presented no new strategy for eliminating terror threats from ISIL and those the group inspires. Instead, he offered a broad survey of counter-terror tactics put in place since 9/11 and reviewed his administration's multifaceted approach to managing the chaos in Iraq and Syria that has allowed ISIL to thrive.
Repeatedly, Obama urged Americans to make decisions based on reason, not fear.
"Our success won't depend on tough talk or abandoning our values, or giving into fear. That's what groups like ISIL are hoping for," Obama said, standing at a podium set up in front of his desk. "Instead we will prevail by being strong and smart."
He insisted that the threats come from those following a "perverted" brand of Islam and insisted "Muslim Americans are our friends and neighbors" and important allies in the fight against extremism.
"We cannot turn against one another,'' he said.
While the venue for the speech was rare - it was only the third time Obama made a primetime address from the Oval Office - his message was the same he has used for the last several weeks. His calls to not reject American values by demonizing Muslims and refugees echoed his remarks after an ISIL-organized shooting in Paris left about 130 dead. His exhortations that Congress should pass more gun restrictions after an apparently radicalized couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, shot 14 people last week in San Bernardino echoed so many other speeches after mass shootings during his term. And his insistence that sending large numbers of American troops to fight on the ground in Iraq or Syria would be a disastrous mistake is familiar to anyone who was watching his first campaign for president.
In fact, the last time Obama gave a prime time address from the Oval Office, he was making good on that early campaign promise, announcing the end of the American combat operation in Iraq in August of 2010.
The setting seemed like a symbolic book end: as Obama noted, former President George W. Bush was sitting at the same desk seven and a half years earlier when he announced the start of the war.
But it turns out ending that war didn't end America's involvement in the region, or all the threats of terror, as Obama tried to explain on Sunday night.
The nature of the conflict is different: it's more complicated, for one thing, and it's not likely to come to a speedy close. That's in part because terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIL have shifted their focus from complicated attacks on symbolic targets to simple shooting rampages in public spaces.
"I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure," Obama said. "Well, here's what I want you to know: The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it."
The administration has pointed to various ways it's intensifying its efforts against ISIL. In recent weeks, officials announced moves to tighten a waiver program that lets Europeans visit the United States without a visa, and talks are underway in Vienna with the goal of ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad through a political process, a key to ultimately overpowering ISIL and stabilizing the region. Obama praised America's allies for stepping up their efforts.
After Paris, administration officials repeatedly insisted that there were no credible threats of an ISIL attack in the United States. And that's still true, they say. But when reports that Malik had pledged allegiance to ISIL on Facebook shortly before opening fire on a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center, officials rushed to clarify that they hadn't ruled out lone wolf-style attacks motivated by ISIL's social media campaigns or Al Qaeda's online magazine, Inspire.
The Obama administration's bid to short-circuit radicalization at home had come under fire even before the San Bernardino shooting, with independent investigators reportedly panning the State Department's social media counterprogramming effort. Obama repeated his call to the nation's Muslims to help authorities catch extremists before they act even as the federal authorities have alienated those communities with invasive tactics, including in Southern California.
A senior administration official said that Obama had decided to give the speech on Friday, and he was still putting the finishing touches on it as he wrapped up a White House reception for the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.
"We felt that the Oval Office was a familiar and appropriate venue" to illustrate the seriousness of the situation, the official said, adding that Obama would be speaking "from the place where he makes his decisions."
After the attacks not only in Paris and San Bernardino, but also in Beirut and in a Russian passenger jet over Egypt, the official said, "we recognized that there are very real and legitimate fears in the United States and around the world."
In France, those fears appear to be playing out in the political sphere: The Front National, a right-wing, nationalist party, made big gains in regional elections on Sunday.
Obama misspoke about San Bernardino suspect's visa Back
By Nahal Toosi | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
In announcing one of the new steps his administration is taking to secure the U.S. from terrorists, President Barack Obama's carefully scripted Sunday night address to the nation included at least one mistake.
Obama said he'd requested a review of the "visa waiver program" under which one of the San Bernardino attackers arrived in the United States. But that assailant, Tashfeen Malik, came under a fiancé visa; she didn't arrive under the program that waives a visa requirement.
"I've ordered the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country," Obama said in the prime-time address.
White House officials confirmed after the speech that the president was supposed to say "visa program," but apparently the word "waiver" also slipped through. The official transcript includes a correction.
The Obama administration already has been reviewing and tightening the visa waiver program, which allows visa-free travel to the United States from people in nearly 40 countries, many of them in Europe.
Malik was from Pakistan and had also spent many years in Saudi Arabia. Neither of those countries falls under the U.S. visa waiver program. She used her Pakistani passport to come to the U.S. to live with her U.S. citizen husband and fellow attacker, Syed Rizwan Farook.
Obama's announcement that the "K-1" fiancé visa program will also now face review could spur calls in Congress for an even broader look at the country's visa policies. It was not immediately clear if the review he's calling for will also cover the so-called marriage visas, which are separate from fiancé visas.
The fiancé visa allows the recipient to travel to the U.S. to marry his or her intended spouse within 90 days of arrival. After that, the visa recipient can apply to adjust his or her status to become a U.S. permanent resident.
Getting admitted under a fiancé or marriage visa is not simple. A couple often has to prove through significant documentation and multiple interviews that they are truly in a relationship, and the process can take many months.
However, it's easier to get to the United States through the fiancé or marriage visa programs than it is to arrive through the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which has come under scrutiny in Congress since the November attacks in Paris.
Hoyer forecasts 'bipartisan, big majorities' for Visa Waiver bill Back
By Jennifer Scholtes | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is publicly predicting a landslide vote next week in favor of slapping new restrictions on those who benefit from the Visa Waiver program.
On the House floor this afternoon, Hoyer praised his GOP colleagues for working with Democrats to reach agreement on final language, saying he looks forward to the bill "passing with bipartisan, big majorities next week."
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the House is expected to take up the measure (H.R. 158) under suspension of the rules, moving it without amendment debate and requiring a higher threshold of two-thirds majority for passage.
The majority leader characterized the legislation as an effort to "close loopholes ... to prevent terrorists from exploiting the system and coming to America to wreak havoc."
Leaders from both sides of the aisle have agreed to add extra language to the bill, which Rep. Candice Miller introduced in January and the House Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved in June. Those additional provisions would bar people "who have traveled from Syria and Iraq from using the program, terminates a country for failing to screen against INTERPOL's criminal and terrorism databases, and allows the secretary of Homeland Security to suspend high-risk countries until the threat has passed," according to Miller.
Besides that new language, the bill would give DHS the power to immediately suspend Visa Waiver eligibility for countries that have failed to turn over the intelligence they have agreed to share. But it would also require the department to restore those partnerships if countries then make good on those promises.
Obama signs five-year transportation infrastructure bill Back
By Lauren Gardner | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
It's official: the nation's highways and transit systems have secured funding from the federal government for the next five years.
President Barack Obama signed the $305 billion measure into law this afternoon, putting an end to the short-term patches that have financed infrastructure projects haphazardly since 2009. The legislation also reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank .
In a statement earlier in the day, Obama called the legislation an imperfect but "commonsense compromise." But he also pressed Congress to get to work on a bill to funnel even more money to national infrastructure needs.
Obama wastes no time pressing for more transportation funding Back
By Jennifer Scholtes | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
Even before signing his name on the five-year transportation bill Congress cleared Thursday, President Barack Obama is goading transportation leaders to get to work on follow-on legislation.
"As we applaud the kind of bipartisan compromise that was reached last night, we should also recognize that we still have work to do," Obama said in a written statement this afternoon. "Congress should pass a bill like the GROW AMERICA Act I've proposed in the past, one that supports even more jobs and invests even more in our roads and highways than the bill passed last night so we can meet our country's infrastructure needs."
Confirming what White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters earlier in the day, the president said he looks forward to signing the bill "right away."
On Capitol Hill, transportation leaders have already started committing to subsequent legislative action to create a more permanent revenue source for the Highway Trust Fund. House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster told reporters on Tuesday that, "as soon as the president signs this, we've got to bring the stakeholder community to the table" to come up with a long-term fix.
Ships, planes on shaky ground at climate talks Back
By Sara Stefanini | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
LE BOURGET, France - Any deal at the COP21 summit that cuts greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid potentially dangerous levels of global warming is going to have to rope in two big polluting industries - shipping and aviation.
The problem?
Both ships and planes are regulated by separate United Nations organizations, and aren't formally part of the U.N.-led climate talks. The two industries are economic powerhouses, making some countries reluctant to enact expensive regulations.
The dilemma can be felt on the Marshall Islands, a Pacific country made up of over 1,100 low-lying islands and less than 53,000 people. The islands are at the risk of disappearing beneath rising oceans, which is why they are at the forefront of a push to include a phrase in this year's global climate deal that requires all industries, including international shipping and aviation, to set targets for cutting their emissions.
But the Marshall Islands also runs the world's third-largest ship registry, after Panama and Liberia. So the challenge to the shipping industry may undermine its own economy.
The country has made a calculation that the preservation of its islands outweighs the economic cost.
"Ultimately, this is a matter of survival," Tony de Brum, the Marshall Islands' foreign minister, said at a COP21 side event Saturday. "A sector in which we not only have a big stake but which we rely on for our connection to the world. ... It is very clear that in our quest for a 1.5-degree Celsius world, we need all countries and all sectors to commit to meeting the emissions reduction challenge."
Pressure to include maritime and aviation
The European Union has backed the Marshall Islands' push, with the European Parliament calling in October for the two industries to start taking steps to curb their emissions by the end of 2016. But many developing countries are resisting.
The Paris agreement, which needs to be finalized at the end of this week, can't specifically set new targets for the shipping and aviation industries. The summit is being held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, while the industries are overseen by two other U.N. agencies, the International Maritime Organization and International Civil Aviation Organization.
But if the COP21 deal mentions shipping and aviation in the section mitigating further emissions, it will require the two U.N. organizations to set sector-wide emissions-reduction targets similar to the pledges that some 185 governments made in the run-up to the climate summit.
For the shipping industry, a green shift would involve increasing energy efficiency, reducing speeds and shifting to renewable energy and new alternatives to gasoline and other traditional fuels, said John Maggs, senior policy adviser at the NGO Seas at Risk.
For the U.N. maritime organization to start the process, it needs a clear indication from the COP21 process, he said. "It means decarbonization and it means reductions in emissions far greater than anything that's being entertained at the IMO at the moment."
The draft Paris deal released Saturday afternoon includes an option to direct the U.N. aviation and maritime organizations to "pursue the limitation or reduction" of emissions, "with a view to agreeing concrete measures addressing these emissions, including developing procedures for incorporating emissions from international aviation and marine bunker fuels into low-emission development strategies."
The text has to strike a tricky balance, Anna Lindstedt, Sweden's lead negotiator, said in an interview. "We need to be careful, because these bodies are independent, they're not controlled by the UNFCCC, but it does need to give some kind of signal."
Even the option of including the two organizations in the draft may not be rigorous enough. For it to have an effect, it needs to make clear that the industries have to adapt to a world that aims to keep global warming at less than either 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius, Maggs said.
"The limitation language has got to go," he said, which means a tougher standard of "reduction" of emissions would have to apply.
And with a number of divisive issues still to be resolved in final week of negotiations, there is some concern that the option could be offered up to opponents as a bargaining chip.
The size of a country
The aviation industry is responsible for five percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, followed by shipping with nearly three percent, putting them on par with emissions from the U.K. and Germany, according to the NGO Transport & Environment.
If unchecked, their emissions are expected to rise by as much as 270 percent by 2050, giving them a global share of close to 40 percent, it added.
The IMO noted last week that it has adopted the only legally binding energy efficiency measures for a global industry, requiring that ships built in 2025 be 30 percent more energy efficient than those in 2015.
The ICAO, likewise, said it is already taking "concrete actions" to reduce emissions, making its air traffic management and aircraft technologies more efficient and introducing alternative fuels. It plans to consider a market-based measurement scheme and adopt a new CO2 certification standard at its next general assembly in 2016.
Economic drivers
Others, however, counter that neither the IMO nor ICAO has set clear emissions reduction targets, which would give the industries a long-term signal on the direction they need to take.
The Danish Shipowners' Association would like the EU's monitoring, reporting and verification rules for shipping to be lifted to the international level, Maria Bruun Skipper, the group's director, said at the side event on Saturday.
"We would like the UNFCCC to send a clear message to the IMO governments that they should commit themselves to regulate the industry as well," she said, adding that the IMO can then work out the technical details.
The EU has a similar economic interest in setting international regulations for aviation, because it is one of the only regions to have already imposed limits, by including all airlines in its Emissions Trading System in 2008. China's Shanghai pilot trading system includes domestic aviation, and the government has said its national system will do the same from 2017. New Zealand's trading system includes kerosene from domestic flights.
For many developing countries, however, the concern is that emissions reduction targets could deal economic blows to important industries. In shipping, 70 percent of the global fleet flies flags from countries that are not on the U.N.'s 1992 list of wealthy countries.
And while the Marshall Islands has chosen to push for the environmental solution, rather than the economic one, Saint Lucia is being more cautious about penalizing flights into the Caribbean island.
"Clearly, we want to see as much of an emission reduction as possible," James Fletcher, Saint Lucia's minister for sustainable development, energy, science and technology, said in an interview. "However, we don't want what happens to be at the detriment of our tourism industry."
Andrew Restuccia contributed to this report.
European Council strikes deal on passenger name records Back
By Zoya Sheftalovich | 12/07/2015 05:42 AM EDT
The European Council caved today to Parliament's demands to store "unmasked" data of airline passengers for a maximum of six months, during the justice and home affairs council meeting.
Data will be stored in a disguised format for a further 4 1/2 years, with certain law enforcement authorities allowed to decrypt if necessary.
In addition, internal EU and charter flights will be included in the passenger name records (PNR) system. Parliament had insisted it would be optional, but today all 28 EU countries agreed to opt-in.
Council rejected Parliament's demand that countries should share all PNR information, insisting details should be exchanged when necessary.
Probed about why Council refused to take a stricter line on this, Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg's deputy prime minister and minister of internal security and president of the Council, said, "You should ask the member states. They had different reasons for why they didn't want to go further on automatic exchange of information."
The proposal will be put to a vote in the civil liberties (LIBE) committee December 10, where it is expected to pass. Parliament will vote early next year.