May 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune

You can buy and sell world currencies on a trading floor. And you can pick up produce at a neighborhood marketplace.

But how do you construct a market for climate change pollution?

More than 200 people from the western United States and Canada gathered at a Salt Lake City hotel Wednesday to help do just that.

The latest public meeting of the Western Climate Initiative brought government together with the companies, students, labor unions, industry groups and environmental organizations eager to have a hand in shaping a cap-and-trade market for the West. Industries such as logging and electricity have a stake, as do new companies such as Holladay-based Blue Source, which manages some of this new carbon-pollution currency.

"There's a large amount of capital coming into this market," said Lauren Kimble, Blue Source's vice president of marketing.

Participants considered that capital as stakeholders commented Wednesday on a draft of a cap-and-trade program. The states involved are: Utah, Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon and three Canadian provinces.

Stakeholders, like the member states, want the program to fairly balance the costs and benefits of carbon-trading.

Kimble reminded the team drafting the proposal that companies like hers already have valuable experience in offsets, or credits for greenhouse gas pollution avoided by technology or climate-friendly practices.

Blue Source started seven years ago and now has seven U.S. offices and projects in 48 states, plus operations in Canada. In a marketplace that grew threefold to $300 million last year, the Utah company has 200 million tons of offsets in its portfolio, she said.

The suggestions made and concerns aired Wednesday will be factored into the next draft of the plan that will be released in a couple of months.

"It's giving the states a seat at the table," said Kimble, noting that Congress is expected to begin considering a national cap-and-trade program next month.