CEOs plead for mandatory emissions caps (10 corporations and 4 environmental groups seek limits)

WASHINGTON - Chief executives of 10 major corporations urged Congress on Monday to require limits on greenhouse gases this year, contending voluntary efforts to combat climate change are inadequate.

The call for immediate action came on the eve of President Bush's State of the Union address in which he is expected to reiterate that the industry on its own is making progress in curtailing the growth of heat-trapping emissions without the need of government intervention.

But the executives and leaders of four major environmental organizations said in a letter to Bush that mandatory emissions caps are needed to reduce the flow of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

"We can and must take prompt action to establish a coordinated, economy-wide market-driven approach to climate protection," the executives, part of a coalition called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, said in a letter to the president.

The executives, representing major utilities, aluminum and chemical companies and financial institutions, said the cornerstone of climate policy should be an economy-wide emissions cap-and-trade system.

Members of the group include chief executives of Alcoa Inc., BP America Inc., DuPont Co., Caterpillar Inc., General Electric Co., and Duke Energy Corp.

At a news conference, the executives said that mandatory reductions of heat-trapping emissions can be imposed without economic harm and would lead to economic opportunities if done across the economy and with provisions to mitigate costs.

Many of the companies already have voluntarily moved to curb greenhouse emissions, they said. But the executives also said they do not believe voluntary efforts will suffice.

"It must be mandatory, so there is no doubt about our actions," said Jim Rogers, chairman of Duke Energy. "The science of global warming is clear. We know enough to act now. We must act now."

Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said the group intends to push the issue in Congress, urging lawmakers to address climate change as soon as possible. She said she expects other major corporations to join in the call.

Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, a member of the alliance, called the executives' support "a game changer" in the debate over climate change. "We are asking Congress to not wait for a new administration and not wait for the presidential debates," Krupp said.

In the letter, the executives urged Congress to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation should cut these releases 10 percent below today's levels within a decade and at least 60 percent by 2050, according to the action plan. Releases of carbon dioxide, the principal heat-trapping gas, has been increasing an average of 1 percent a year.

At his daily briefing, White House press secretary Tony Snow dismissed any call for mandatory, economy-wide carbon caps to deal with climate. He acknowledged there's been some talk about such caps, "but they are not part of the president's proposal."

The first days of the new Democratic-controlled Congress have seen a rush of legislation introduced to address climate change, all of which have some variation of a cap-and-trade approach to dealing with climate change.

Among those pushing cap-and-trade climate bills are two leading presidential aspirants, Sens. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., and John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz.

Essentially such a mechanism would have mandatory limits of greenhouse gas emissions, but would allow companies to trade emission credits to reduce the cost. Companies that can't meet the cap could purchase credits from those that exceed them or in some case from a government auction.

Also signing the letter to Bush were the executives of Lehman Brothers, PG&E Corp., PNM Resources, FPL Group and four leading environmental organizations.

What a wonderful future. Federal "thermostat regulations" requiring you to not heat your house warmer than 68F in winter or cool it below 86F in summer, 55 mph speed limits, complete bans on SUVs and light trucks, parking fees at your office building to force you into carpools, carbon taxes on your airline tickets, forced shutdowns of energy intensive leisure industries like snow skiing, snowmobiles, water skiing and personal watercraft, etc., etc. And all of these weak U.S. efforts that are nothing but nibbling at the edge of the problem will be completely negated by less than a decades growth of the population in India.

But, of course, these Elitists in the Business world as well as in the Political world will NEVER bike to work as they would have all the peons to do - eventually.

This is 10 Business people obviously bribed in some way to go along with this baloney.

Where are the courageous 10,000 business people who can unite and call this what it is a - gargantuan hoax!

OK...let me have a crack at this.

BP America -- Oil and mostly natural gas

Duke Energy -- Natural gas

Dupont -- Chemical industry with lots of oil and gas fired turbines

Caterpiller -- reciprocating engines (oil and natural gas fired)

GE -- Maker of the wind turbine, the GE Frame 7 turbine (natural gas and oil fired)

Lehman Brothers -- Investment group funding turbine projects

PG&E Corp., PNM Resources, FPL Group -- Companies that have very few coal fired boilers but lots of renewables and oil and natural gas connections.

Am I missing anything. These people are trying to jump on the "carbon" issue because it helps them.

But there is just one thing that they are not mentioning folks and no one not even the pinhead liberals in our government understand:

Natural Gas Processing plants (sweetening units) put out CO2 in the hundreds of tons/yr. Right now we only measure the CO2 emissions from coal units. Make these natural gas companies calculate how much CO2 is coming off of their Clause beds, LoCAT incinerators, and Amine units. Make them calculate the amount of CO2 released during Reservoir CO2 fracturing!

I'm going to post this on similar threads to get the word out that these companies are maligning themselves with the Gorons to line their pockets.

Not this bulls**t again ! I hated 55 mph speed limit. I remember during the Carter years due to energy cost and admonishment from Carter, my parents kept the house at 60 degree during the Winter. I hated the Winter due to freezing my butt off !

I remember when the thermostats could not go lower than 78 degrees but yet, companies expected you to dress nice with the long sleeve dress shirts, ties, etc. In fact the facility I work at, the director expects his people who sit near him to wear long sleeve shirts with ties, dark colored dress slacks even during 100 degree F days.

Over the past few years, I have despised executives more and more starting with the Enron, Worldcom scandals. They get their golden paychecks and parachutes when they leave, the shareholders get screwed with lower stock prices. The company I work for, our executives get 20% pay increase while the rank and file workers get 2% increase. They have taken away paid overtime but expect you to still do it (salaried). They are clamping down on how and when you take vacation and more bureaucracy is required to take more than a week off. There is talk about tightening the dress code. Doesn't cost the company much to impose these restrictions but bad for morale !

"What a wonderful future. Federal "thermostat regulations" requiring you to not heat your house warmer than 68F in winter or cool it below 86F in summer, 55 mph speed limits, complete bans on SUVs and light trucks, parking fees at your office building to force you into carpools,..."

We tried all this crap back in the '70s;
it didn't work then and it certainly won't work now.

All that "conservation" B.S. did was to ease supplies, so that prices dropped, and consumption headed back upward.

Meanwhile, the DOT here in Texas (and elswhere no doubt) is whining that, because of all the fuel-eficient cars on the road, gasoline tax revenues are down, so they want a rate increase!
Poor babies!

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