Exelon, a power company that operates the country’s largest fleet of nuclear reactors, announced today that it would withdraw from the United States Chamber of Commerce because of differences with the chamber’s climate policy — making it the third major utility to do so in just over a week.Last week Pacific Gas & Electric announced plans to leave the chamber. PNM Resources, a New Mexico utility holding company, did the same shortly thereafter.
Exelon’s move was announced this morning by John W. Rowe, its chairman and chief executive, in a speech this morning at an energy-efficiency conference.
Judith Rader, an Exelon spokeswoman, confirmed that the company would not renew its membership because of the chamber’s “opposition to climate legislation.”
Draft climate legislation is expected to be unveiled in the Senate this week. A climate bill narrowly passed by the House of Representatives in June.
The chamber has not yet responded to an e-mail message requesting comment. It supports reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in principle, but rejects any approach that it believes would drive up the price of energy and send American jobs overseas. It has vigorously opposed climate legislation. According to The Los Angeles Times, chamber officials have called for a reexamination of the Environmental Protection Agency’s global warming findings, as part of a “Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century.”
The "scopes" type trial would be such a waste of time. You can always find proponents for both sides of any argument, but the bottom line science for this one does not lie. Bottom line, our window of opportunity to address global warming in a reasonable and semi-affordable manner is closing - we will solve this issue, but the longer we wait, the more it will cost. When utilities disagree, you know there is something wrong.
Oh my, what a shame. Conservatives will do everything they can to keep the status quo. It's infuriating. They think anything they ignore will just go away. Well this ghost in the machine is bigger than they are, and growing in power every day.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think we might not really deserve to survive as a species. I guess I need to watch "The Story of Mankind" or "Encounter at Farpoint" once again, just to convince myself I am wrong.
Seriously. When utility companies are saying "Even WE know we need to do something," pay attention!
ReplyDeleteThe malice of the repugs is beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteI agree Ken, when utilities are fighting with themselves it is time to stand back and look at the big picture.In this situation, I know if I look at the members of the United States Chamber of Commerce I'm going to find people with ties to conservative wing nuts backing this insane stance about climate change. I know for sure they are not worried about American jobs flying overseas. That's been happening for the last two decades and the chamber hasn't done anything to stop that hemorrhaging. Tanks for the piece Ken.
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