"President Obama has signed into law a bill that requires U.S. airlines be excluded from European carbon emissions fees."

"Environmentalists had framed the bill as the first test of the president's commitment to fighting climate change in his second term and urged him to veto it. Obama quietly signed it Tuesday over their objections.

'The Obama administration is firmly committed to reducing harmful carbon pollution from civil aviation both domestically and internationally, but, as we have said on many occasions, the application of the EU [Emissions Trading System] to non-EU air carriers is the wrong way to achieve that objective,' a White House spokesman said in a statement to The Hill."

Keith Laing reports for The Hill November 27, 2012. [2]