Energy Companies Still Pushing for Cap-and-Trade. By Timothy Gardner, Reuters, February 11, 2010. "The U.S. Senate's stalled climate bill is getting a last big push from an unlikely ally -- a group of energy companies who say a carbon market will help them get financing for the next generation of energy production. But intensive lobbying by these climate bill proponents -- including heavyweights like Duke Energy, Shell Oil Co and General Electric Co -- may not be enough to counter powerful opposition and get a bill passed before the U.S. mid-term elections in November. President Barack Obama says he still backs a climate bill but many have written off the chances of passing legislation with the most controversial provision: a market that aims to cut pollution by letting companies buy and trade permits to emit greenhouse gases...
"Duke Energy Chief Executive Jim Rogers and Shell Oil Co President Marvin Odum met moderate lawmakers, seeking ways to push such a bill in the Senate that has made little progress... A cap-and-trade system would reward companies for adopting clean energy technologies like nuclear plants and burying carbon emissions from coal generators underground. Rogers said this would give investors confidence to finance new power plants. 'We have to retire or replace every plant by 2050,' he said. 'The sooner we get about the business of doing that, the better'... Odum said an emissions market would create hundreds of thousands of jobs as companies race to begin building a new energy system... A compromise bill being hashed out by Senators John Kerry, a Democrat, Lindsey Graham, a Republican, and Joe Lieberman, an independent, is not expected to be out before March. Lobbyists for companies that support a cap-and-trade system have taken heart in signals from the trio of senators, and in recent comments from President Obama, that a compromise could pick up votes. Rogers said the lobbyists are targeting 15 to 17 Democratic and eight to 10 Republican Senators to win votes."
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