Exelon CEO sees high odds of US GHG limits in next five years

Washington (Platts)--1Jun2006

Exelon Chairman and CEO John Rowe said Thursday he believes odds that the
US Congress will enact greenhouse gas emission limits in the next five years
have increased "very substantially" now that a number of key Senate
Republicans are pressing the administration to take stronger action on global
warming.

In remarks delivered at the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic
Decisions Conference in New York, Rowe said that while legislation is unlikely
to pass Congress in the next 12 to 30 months, several factors, including the
"increasingly possibility" that Democrats will take control of either or both
chambers in this year's election and greater attention to the issue by
Republican members, make it more probable that the US will have carbon dioxide
caps.

"I think you see not only the increasing possibility of a party change in
Congress, but you see more and more Republicans saying, 'Mr. President, we
have to deal with this in some way,'" Rowe said. He added that Alaska's two
senators, both Republicans, along with conservative Republican Senators
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas, have raised
concerns over GHG emissions. "I think we are moving toward a bipartisan
consensus."

Still unresolved, Rowe added, is whether the legislation will follow
recommendations issued last year by the National Commission on Energy Policy,
which called for a 2.4% annual reduction in US greenhouse gas intensity
(measured as tons of emissions per dollar of GDP) beginning in 2010. The plan
also included an initial $7/metric ton cap on CO2 emission permits to limit
the plan's economic impacts. The other possibility at this point is the more
stringent legislation introduced by Senators John McCain, Republican-Arizona,
and Joseph Lieberman, Democrat-Connecticut. Rowe served as co-chairman of the
NCEP report.

For similar news, take a trial to Platts Inside Energy at
http://insideenergy.platts.com.


 

Copyright © 2005 - Platts

Please visit:  www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.