Washington (Platts)--10Sep2007

A top Clinton administration climate change official said Monday that the
US Congress is unlikely to pass carbon market legislation before 2009.

    Roger Ballantine, a low-carbon energy sector consultant and former
chairman of the now-defunct White House Climate Change Task Force, spoke
Monday at an Infocast conference in Washington. 

    Part of the reason Ballantine thinks Congress is unlikely to enact
legislation is because Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who
heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is pushing a carbon tax and a
greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.

    "My fear is that a tax debate will eat up all the political oxygen and
you'll never get to a cap-and-trade bill. My guess is there will not be a bill
[passed] this Congress," Ballantine said.

		--Martin Coyne, martin_coyne@platts.com