Date published: 2008/05/21
The BBC says:
UK ministers have been urged to halt airport expansion until the true costs and benefits of the proposed increase in flying are properly understood.
The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) have been examining aviation policy for a year.
They conclude that so much fundamental data is disputed that an independent inquiry is needed to sort it out.
The government said it had serious objections to the report's findings.
Among the main areas of dispute are:
The SDC/IPPR report said all the uncertainty had eroded people's confidence in government policy.
- The economic benefit of aviation: Treasury analysis based on aviation industry research estimates future increases in economic activity through expanded aviation - but excludes any calculation of losses to the UK tourist industry through cheap flights abroad.
- The impact of aviation's greenhouse gas emissions: This is a particularly difficult area as scientists are still trying to work out exactly how much the heating effect of aircraft emissions is magnified, as the gases are released at altitude. There is also uncertainty over how to express the significance of the heating effect of contrails.
- The role of technology: The aviation industry believes that many problems can be solved by improved technology. But many experts warn that improvements in technology cannot keep up with the increase in demand for flying.
They want to see a full investigation - and airport expansion frozen until it is completed.
Another pointless report by people who have nothing to contribute to the debate on aviation. The only people whose "confidence" has been "eroded" are the academic middle class people, like the people who wrote this report, who have always opposed the aviation industry and basically want to kill it off. (Fortunately for these academic middle class do-nothing types, the high price of oil will accomplish much in this regard.)
You might as well complain that we don't really understand the full impact of the paper industry on the world and so should not allow any increase in the number of books that can be published until some committee of the great and the good spends years assessing the situation.
You might as well complain that we don't really understand the full impact of the electronics industry on the world and so should not allow any increase in the number of computers until some committee of the great and the good spends years assessing the situation.
You might as well complain that we don't really understand the full impact of the food industry on the world and so should not allow any increase in the amount of food produced until some committee of the great and the good spends years assessing the situation.
Basically, these people are just taking the piss. Why is the UK wasting so much money supporting such useless quangos (the SDC) and such useless consultancies (the IPPR)?
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