Energy Sector Calls for U.S. Emissions Targets; Oil Industry Balks

Some corporations in the energy sector have demanded clearer guidelines on GHG emissions reductions in order to ensure they would be able to finance their transition from coal-based power plants to lower-carbon fuels, the New York Times reported. Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO James E. Rogers was quoted as saying: "A well-designed cap will provide a smooth transition to clean electricity."

Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, called for leadership. She was quoted as saying: "Industry needs certainty, and without a very strong role played by the administration, they are not likely to get it. Real leadership from the White House is the only way to get a bill through the Senate, and a bill is how we will get certainty."

The Obama administration announced already that the U.S. would take a provisional GHG emissions reduction target to international climate talks in Copenhagen, saying that the target would be "in the range" of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank, said much works remains before the U.S. would be ready to meet the targets. He was quoted as saying: "We have a lot of ideas on the table. But no one has actually agreed to the blueprint that would allow us to get to the goal that the president has outlined."

Wrote the New York Times: "Much of the legislative horse-trading in recent months centered on which sectors of the economy would receive these carbon allowances free, as a subsidy to switch to low-carbon fuels or to invest in carbon-abating technologies, and which industries must pay for them." Oil producers, for example, have opposed climate-change legislation claiming it would result in higher gasoline prices, lower domestic output and increase fuel imports.

Charles T. Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, was quoted as saying: "In the midst of a severe recession with 10.2 percent national unemployment, our economy, the creation of jobs and consumer impact should take much greater precedence over attempts to impress international bureaucrats during an annual convention," referencing the Copenhagen talks.