Catfight!! - The Sequel - UK Minister Quashed After RyanAir Comments - Greens Bash All Concerned

[hatrack]

Vivid proof that what to do about climate change and aviation is now the toughest environmental dilemma came yesterday, in a remarkable three-cornered squabble between the Government, the airline industry and the green movement. The Environment minister, Ian Pearson, lambasted the cut-price airline chief Michael O'Leary over greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft; Mr O'Leary hit back with a no-holds-barred denunciation of the Government, and environmentalists attacked them both for failing to tackle the fastest-rising cause of global warming.

Increasing concern about the growing contribution to climate change from jet exhausts was behind Mr Pearson's charge that the airlines were failing to take the problem seriously, in particular low-cost firms such as Ryanair that have led the industry's huge expansion in recent years.

Ryanair, in particular, was showing itself to be "the irresponsible face of capitalism", over the matter, Mr Pearson said. "O'Leary just seems to take pride in refusing to recognise that climate change is a genuine problem." Mr O'Leary, the outspoken founder and boss of the Irish no-frills carrier, countered by calling Mr Pearson "foolish and ill- informed", saying he did not have a clue what he was talking about. "It is time Minister Pearson and other equally foolish politicians actually tackled the real cause of climate change, which is road transport and power generation," he said. Furthermore, he charged that Gordon Brown's recent doubling of air passenger duty from £5 to £10 was merely a money-grabbing exercise which in reality did nothing for the environment ­ a charge already made by a wide range of commentators. He added that Mr Pearson "talks a lot but does little" and that Ryanair was "Europe's greenest airline".

However, both Mr O'Leary and the Government came under attack from environmentalists. "Ian Pearson is right, Ryanair is an eco-dinosaur," said Doug Parr, chief scientist of Greenpeace. "But when it comes to actual policy, there's very little difference between the airline industry and Tony Blair. Both support airport expansion and think emissions trading is a good way to sweep the issue under the carpet, and the positions of both of them are utterly at odds with the science. When it comes to flying, Tony Blair is the irresponsible face of a hypocritical government."

EDIT

http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=66077

A Government minister who launched a broadside on the airline industry's attitude to global warming has been told not to make any further public comment on the issue. But the Department for the Environment insisted this was simply to avoid fuelling the controversy further and denied press reports that Ian Pearson was subjected to a humiliating dressing down by his boss, Environment Secretary David Miliband.

The climate change minister's comments sparked a furious response from the head of no-frills airline Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, who said Mr Pearson was "foolish and ill-informed" and "hasn't a clue what he's talking about". In an interview published in The Guardian on Friday, Mr Pearson described Ryanair as "the irresponsible face of capitalism" and said Mr O'Leary was "completely off the wall".

His comments reflected frustration over a failure to make headway in talks over the inclusion of air travel in the EU's carbon emissions trading scheme, designed to cut the greenhouse gases which cause global warming.

The Times today quoted an unnamed adviser to Mr Miliband as saying the minister's comments were "incredibly unhelpful" and the Environment Secretary had made his displeasure known to Mr Pearson in a telephone call. "It is not helpful for the Government to attack individuals," she was reported as saying. "From our point of view, these negative comments are incredibly unhelpful. This is not how you make Government policy."

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6326308,00.html