House Dem wants to ban lithium batteries from flights

The top ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee said Friday that lithium batteries should be banned from passenger and cargo flights. 

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx that a string of recent accidents that have been tied to problems with lithium batteries prove they are unsafe to transport on airplanes, even if they are just carrying cargo packages instead of passengers. 

{mosads}“There is now no doubt that bulk shipments of lithium batteries on passenger and cargo aircraft present a serious and incontrovertible hazard to aviation safety—one of the clearest hazards now known,” DeFazio wrote. 

“We are learning more, seemingly every day, about the risks associated with transport by air of lithium batteries, but we have long known generally that lithium batteries are dangerous cargo,” Foxx continued. “In fact, the FAA has received more than 150 reports of aviation incidents in the U.S. involving lithium batteries transported as cargo or baggage since 1991… Given what we now know, there is no excuse for inaction before more lives are lost.”  

DeFazio is pushing Foxx to press for a prohibition on transporting lithium batteries on airplanes at a meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that is scheduled to take place on Monday in Montreal. 

“Although evidence of the hazards of transporting lithium batteries by air is mounting, ICAO has taken little action,” he wrote to the Transportation chief. “It seems to me that ICAO has spent more time talking about this growing safety hazard than focusing on ways to resolve it before another accident occurs. Overall, I have significant concerns about whether ICAO will ever take appropriate action to address the safety of transporting lithium batteries by air and whether the United States is willing and able, in the absence of international action, to take the necessary steps to ensure aviation and public safety and prevent further loss of life.” 

Lithium batteries were involved in a series of incidents involving airplane manufacturer Boeing’s 787 “Dreamliner” series when that model was first introduced in 2013. 

The 787 was temporarily grounded by the FAA after a fire broke out on an airplane that was being operated by Japan Airlines at Boston’s Logan International Airport in an incident that was tied to its use of lithium batteries. Other worldwide aviation agencies quickly followed the FAA’s lead, resulting in a worldwide grounding of the Dreamliner that has lasted for nearly a month.

DeFazio urged Foxx on Friday to “support the [International Coordination Council for Aerospace Industries Associations’] position that continuing to allow the carriage of lithium batteries by air in today’s transport category aircraft cargo compartments is an unacceptable risk to the air transport industry and the flying public. 

“It is equally imperative that the Department urge swift adoption of the ICCAIA’s recommendations to develop and implement appropriate packaging and shipping requirements for safer transportation of lithium batteries as cargo on passenger and cargo aircraft, and for air carriers to refrain from transporting bulk packages of lithium-ion batteries and cells as cargo on passenger aircraft until safer methods of transport are established and followed,” he wrote.