WASHINGTON – Under sustained pressure from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the European Union today reversed its efforts to impose a carbon charge on American air carriers operating flights in and out of Europe.

McCaskill previously joined with Republican Senator John Thune (S.D.), successfully passing bipartisan legislation to protect American consumers from the European Union (EU)’s illegal carbon tax on U.S. air travelers. The Senators subsequently urged the Administration to use all tools at their disposal to prevent the EU from moving forward with imposing such a tax.

Following McCaskill and Thune’s effort, the EU announced late last year that it would delay applying the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) to the aviation industry for one year to allow time for an international agreement. Today, the EU extended that delay through at least 2017.

“It’s a commonsense notion that Americans shouldn’t be forced to pay a European tax when flying in U.S. airspace,” McCaskill said. “It’s refreshing that common sense is prevailing with our European allies.”

EU ETS is a proposed emissions trading program that would levy a tax on U.S. airline carriers’ flights into and out of EU countries. It is related to European countries’ interest in reaching their own internal goals for carbon emissions. The EU program being considered would apply a “cap-and-trade” carbon tax system to all flights originating or landing in Europe-taxing even those emissions that occur over the United States, international waters, and elsewhere outside Europe. Remarkably, these taxes would not be set aside for a specific purpose, and could be used as part of the general fund of any European Union government for virtually any purpose.

The McCaskill-Thune legislation received the support of dozens of organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and unions representing airline employees.