-----Original Message-----
From: Chet France [SMTP:BORUSHKO.MARGARET@epamail.epa.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2000 6:22 AM
To: xxxxxxx
Subject: Response to AX0000628
Dear Ms. Ray:
We have been asked to respond to your E-mail
of January 19,
2000, to Carol M. Browner, Administrator,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), expressing your concern about fibers
the Chemtrail Research Fund
state are *falling from the sky,* following
aircraft flights. We
appreciate this matter being brought to the
attention of the EPA.
We are not aware of any program to disperse
fibrous material on
U.S. population centers or other parts of
the country from jet or any
other type of aircraft. What we can do is
briefly explain how jet engine
exhaust occasionally forms contrails, and
what EPA is doing to reduce the
emissions from these aircraft engines as
a byproduct of fuel combustion.
Jet aircraft engines emit tiny particles
that serve as condensation nuclei.
High-altitude water vapor collects on these
particles, crystallizes, in turn
creating streaks of frozen water vapor, otherwise
known as contrails,
from airplanes operating at high altitudes.
Some contrails join with other contrails
and expand into huge,
natural-looking clouds of cirrus characteristics
that can cover large
areas of the sky. (Cirrus clouds are wispy
white, usually a natural
phenomenon, consisting of minute ice crystals
formed at high altitudes of 20,000 to
40,000 feet.) Research by the National Aeronautics
and Space
Administration (NASA) has recognized this
process of jet aircraft cloud formation as
a
potential problem for blocking sunlight,
but not solar heat reaching the
earth, thereby acting as a thermal blanket
and perhaps contributing to
global warming. A 1999 report issued by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, entitled, Aviation and the Global
Atmosphere, discusses contrail
formation and its effects in more detail.
A copy of this report (ISBN
number 0 521 66300 8) may be ordered through
Cambridge University Press*
website at www.cup.org. The influence of
contrails on cirrus clouds is
noted as a key area of scientific uncertainty
that limits the ability to
project aviation impacts on climate and ozone.
Further work is required
to reduce scientific and other uncertainties
of aviation impacts. EPA and
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
fully support continued research
to address these issues.
In regard to air quality impacts, although
jet aircraft
contribute much less air pollution than that
from motor vehicles, their overall
emissions are increasing every year as air
travel becomes more popular.
In addition, jet aircraft can contribute
significantly to ground-level
ambient air pollution in the immediate vicinity
of an airport, especially
emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and
hydrocarbons (HCs) which contribute to
the formation of ozone. Additional, detailed
information on aircraft
emissions can be found in a recently published
EPA Office of Mobile Sources (OMS)
report, Evaluation of Air Pollutant Emissions
from Subsonic Commercial
Jet Aircraft, April 1999. This report is
available at OMS* Aviation
Emissions web site (www.epa.gov/oms/aviation.htm).
It provides an estimation of
the contribution of aircraft to air quality
emissions in ten urban areas.
The aircraft emission standards for gas turbine
(jet) engines
which power civil aircraft have been in place
for about twenty years.
Before an engine type can be sold or installed
on an aircraft, the
manufacturer must test its emissions on the
ground by simulating in-use
conditions. EPA sets the emission standards
for the engines, and the
FAA monitors the certification process and
enforces the standards. Emission
standards apply to essentially all commercial
aircraft, comprising
scheduled and freight airlines. Two classes
of aircraft, military and
general aviation, are presently not covered.
Controls on engine smoke
and prohibitions on fuel venting were instituted
in 1974 and have been
revised several times since then. Beginning
in 1984, limits were placed on the
amount of unburned HCs * also termed volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) *
which turbine engines can emit per landing
and takeoff cycle. In May of
1997, EPA adopted the current emission standards
for gas turbine engines
of the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) for NOx and carbon
monoxide (CO). In addition, in the near future,
EPA plans to adopt the
more stringent NOx standards expected to
be formally accepted by ICAO
later this year, for implementation in 2004.
EPA is committed and working to reduce emissions
from jet
engine exhaust. I hope this letter will help
answer your questions. Please
feel free to contact us if you have any further
questions.
Sincerely,
Chester J. France, Director
Assessment and Standards Division
