Beneby: Taxing carbon is expectedNov 13 - Nolan Hicks San Antonio Express-NewsIt's a matter of when, not if, the federal government will begin taxing the carbon produced by major industrial companies such as utilities, CPS Energy CEO Doyle Beneby said Tuesday. Beneby made the remark during a 23-minute luncheon address to a group of energy executives, activists and scientists assembled for the first day of the Texas Renewables 2013 forum. "At some point, there needs to be a price on carbon," Beneby said. "I believe that will really be the catalyst to begin to increase the value of renewables." The city-owned utility has made a series of moves to make its fleet of power plants more environmentally friendly, in response to coming and potential federal environmental regulations aimed at curbing pollution and climate change. Lawmakers and environmentalists have repeatedly floated the idea of a carbon tax as a potential option for cutting emissions associated with climate change. Critics of the idea have said that it would raise energy prices and harm American manufacturing. CPS announced in 2011 that it would close its 871-megawatt J.T. Deely coal-fired power plant, which long had been criticized by environmentalists for its emissions, by 2018 instead of spending more than $500 million on new pollution control systems. The utility purchased the much-cleaner gas-fired Rio Nogales power plant in 2012 to replace most of Deely's energy generation. Beneby also touted CPS' deal to purchase 400 megawatts of solar electricity for OCI Solar Energy and its broader strategy of leveraging its purchasing power to require suppliers to bring jobs to the San Antonio area. The solar energy purchase is part of the utility's overall goal of generating 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. "As we pursue our vision, we've tried to attract private partners to help us achieve that vision, but also to bring economic development and education to San Antonio," Beneby said. According to the utility's website, seven companies are part of this initiative, which CPS has dubbed the "New Energy Economy." CPS has refused to release its contracts with the companies, citing confidentiality agreements. However, the utility said it would share additional information about future power purchase agreements -- such as its OCI Solar Power deal -- after a series of stories in the San Antonio Express-News examined the arrangement and the newspaper's Editorial Board called for more transparency. nhicks@express-news.net Twitter: @ndhapple
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