In a speech to the Resources for the Future Policy Leadership Forum in Washington, Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe said that despite growing support, the climate change bill had a less than 25-percent chance of passing Congress this year, in his estimation, E&E News PM reported.
Rowe praised Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for getting the bill "just about right," but said Graham's departure will hurt its chances for approval. Rowe said Graham "still has his heart in" the bill, and approval "could happen" if Graham returned to work on it. He added that Exelon would not alter its "wait and see" stance on adding new nuclear plants regardless of the fate of the bill, because Exelon needed "to see gas prices and carbon prices actually get a bit higher before we would move."
Rowe supported a position of seeking gradual progress on climate change and energy prices. He also said the government should not make "massive investments" in an array of technologies rather than let the market determine changes in energy. Rowe was quoted as saying: "Your choices of technology change from year to year, and it is very important to know it. This is an argument to say, 'Proceed prudently. What you think is true will not always stay true.'"
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