Climate Politics Hurting Big Business, Wall Street Journal Says

The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial published today, said that by withdrawing from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, major companies simply were "putting shareholders and consumers ahead of politics." The Journal said the "climate bills the House passed in August and Senate liberals are contemplating have stripped away" the idea that climate legislation would spur business growth.

Wrote the Journal: "Carbon tariffs and other regulations would have damaged heavy manufacturing against global competitors, which explains Caterpillar's exit, while oil companies would suffer as transportation, refining and power generation via natural gas were punished. Then there's the harm to long-run growth, which would slow under the economy-wide drag of new taxes and federal mandates."

Noting that BP America, Conoco Phillips and Caterpillar--who quit the Partnership on Tuesday--were among the alliance's founding members, the Journal wrote: "Businesses thrive on regulatory certainty, and when cap and tax seemed inevitable maybe an outfit like USCAP could be justified. But the costly reality of the climate agenda is resulting in a change of heart among both the business and political classes even as climate science comes under new scrutiny--and we suspect that several other corporations may follow these three to the exits. It's a measure of liberal overreach that they've managed to alienate the biggest companies that were cheerleading their climate ambitions."