EEI's Kuhn Signals Hard Work Remains to Fine-Tune Climate Bill

EEI President Tom Kuhn said the trade association membership would be taking a long, hard look at the specifics of the climate-energy bill introduced by Sens. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph I. Lieberman, ID-Conn., according to the National Journal's Energy and Environmental blog.

Said Kuhn: "We're supporting the bill moving forward, and basically there's still a 1,000-page bill you've got to look at." Kuhn said that a key focus would be to examine "measures that would reduce emissions of coal-fired plants in a cost-effective way," the blog reported. "There's a lot to do," he said.

Duke Energy President and CEO Jim Rogers was quoted by the blog as also saying the measure "needs some work." Rogers said there are "pieces of it" he wants to see tweaked but wouldn't elaborate on what those pieces were, the blog stated, adding: "What he liked about the bill, he said, was that it would give his company--the nation's third-largest consumer of coal--a sense of certainty." Rogers was quoted as saying: "With a price on carbon, it will inform my choices going forward."

League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski called the initiative "the single most important piece, far and away, because that's what is needed to get the job done." Natural Resources Defense Council Climate Change Director Dan Lashof added: "The core limits on carbon pollution in the bill are a solid foundation for legislation. The mechanism they have to limit price volatility works. It maintains the environmental integrity of the emissions limits. It looks good. It's actually a good design."