Hushkits

Kaun From: David Kim To: LEAMOND NANCY, SMITH BOBBY FYI Date: 3/5/99 1:51pm Subject: hushkits Nancy -- Per your request, here is a brief assessment of the hushkit issue from a hill perspective: 1) Manufacturers of hushkits and several U.S. airlines are heavily lobbying their members of Congress to oppose the EU's proposed hushkit regulation and also to put pressure on the Administration to take active steps. On the manufacturing side, Pratt and Whitney is the biggest, and they are based in Connecticut. Consequently, the entire Connecticut delegation is actively involved in the issue. All of them sent us a letter urging the Administration to actively oppose the EU's proposed regulation to prohibit the use of hushkits on commercial aircraft. 2) Northwest Airlines (based in Minneapolis), Delta Airlines (based in Atlanta) and Federal Express (based in Memphis) are the most active airline carriers opposed to the EU's regulation. As a result, many members representing these cities are engaged. Rep. Jim Oberstar has emerged as the lead in the House, and he is sponsoring a bill (H.R. 661) that would prohibit Concorde flights from Europe to the U.S. if the EU adopts the hushkit regulation. The House passed the bill by voice vote this past Wednesday. 3) In addition to the entire Connecticut delegation, we have heard from the following members on the hushkit regulation: Ben Gilman (R-NY) Steve Horn (R-CA) Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) Porter Goss (R-FL) Amo Houghton (R-NY) Kevin Brady (R-TX) Cass Ballenger (R-NC) John Duncan (R-TN) Frank Wolf (R-VA) Doc d DOT are David Hobson (R-OH) Rob Portman (R-OH) Ted Strickland (D-OH) /eads in Administration John Mica (R-FL) George Nethercutt (R-WA) Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) Jim Oberstar (D-MN) 4) Bottom line: there is considerable congressional interest on this issue. We can expect the Senate to pass similar legislation banning Concorde flights sometime in the near future. CC: ARKY ELIZABETH, r