Plane fire safety rules stall under Trump
WASHINGTON — A year ago, the U.S. government was campaigning for an international ban on shipments of rechargeable batteries on passenger planes because the batteries can self-ignite, creating intense fires capable of destroying an airliner.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency that sets global aviation safety standards, decided last year to ban bulk shipments of lithium-ion batteries on international passenger flights.
Since 2006, three cargo jets have been destroyed and four pilots killed by in-flight fires that investigators say were either started by batteries or made more severe by their proximity.
[...] lobbyists for the battery industry, which opposed the international standard when it was adopted last year, are urging administration officials to make changes that would allow certain batteries to continue to be shipped on passenger flights.
Extending the international ban to domestic flights is “a matter of life and death,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the House transportation committee’s senior Democrat and an advocate of banning air shipments of batteries.
[...] Bob Richard, a battery industry lobbyist, said people living in the Alaskan outback, for example, might not be able to receive batteries for their backup heaters or emergency beacons if the international standard is extended to domestic flights.
Battery makers and electronics companies say the problem is mostly limited to manufacturers in China that make substandard batteries and don’t follow hazardous materials shipping regulations.
Safety concerns about rechargeable batteries increased after FAA tests in 2014 showed gases emitted by overheated batteries can build up in cargo containers, leading to explosions capable of disabling aircraft fire suppression systems.