Boeing backs Trump plane emission rule seen by US states as weak

In lawsuit against US environment agency, 12 states said the rule lags ‘existing technology by more than 10 years’.

United States plane maker Boeing Co has backed fuel efficiency standards for new aircraft – the first of their kind – finalised by the Trump administration in its waning days that a dozen states have challenged as too lenient, and that President Joe Biden’s administration is reviewing. The company asked a US appeals court in Washington, DC, for approval to intervene on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is being sued over its decision to finalise the first-ever standards regulating greenhouse gas emissions from aeroplanes. The plaintiffs, 12 states, the District of Columbia and three environmental groups, want tougher emissions rules. The states said late last year that the EPA rule lags “existing technology by more than 10 years and would result in no [greenhouse gas] reductions at all compared to business-as-usual”.