Mr. Eccard, the first selectman, said the subsidies were fair for a number of reasons.
But the government insisted the changes were necessary in order to ensure subsidies were fair and that renewable energy targets would still be reached, while keeping down costs for consumers.
Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky, the chairman of the transportation subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, said he thought a $200 per-passenger subsidy limit was fair because a federal subsidy to airlines that serve rural communities is limited to that amount.
Or small-scale farmers, who should be protected from the end of the Common Agricultural Policy by a fairer subsidy system.
In 1982, the service beyond Stonebridge Park was ended as part of the fall-out of the cancellation of the Greater London Council's Fares Fair subsidies policy.
"If we as farmers expect taxpayers to support premium subsidies, it's only fair that we grow on land that is capable of supporting it," he said.
For instance, for agriculture, a policy area exclusively dealt with at European level, the focus is shifting away from blanket subsidies and towards ensuring fair incomes for farmers, quality of life in rural areas and greener practices.
In 2004, American airlines served 28 times as many passengers as Amtrak.The train industry would go bankrupt with out its large government subsidies (though to be fair, many airplanes also stave off bankruptcy with a little help from Uncle Sam).
Natural Resources and Food Minister Mr Davies told the BBC's Sunday Politics Wales that subsidies had to be fair to farmers on the lowlands "and the heights of the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia".
"Every farmer in the country would like to exist without subsidy and just get a fair price for the work and product we deliver.
