Duke Weighs Coal, Carbon, Economics Of Fighting Climate Change

Big Carbon, Big Politics, Big Money. Oh to be a lobbyist, now that spring is here.
From Dow Jones via CNN Money:

As the U.S. Congress moves closer to adopting a climate change law, Duke Energy (DUK) and other utilities are pushing for cap-and-trade rules that will minimize their pain and, in Duke's case, allow them to continue burning coal without big financial penalties.

"We (need) both a regulatory regime to put a price on carbon, but we also need greater investment in new technology," Duke Chief Executive Jim Rogers said Thursday at the ECO:nomics conference on climate change.

Under a U.S. cap and trade scheme, Duke wants the government to give utilities most, if not all, the carbon emission allowances that they'll need to start the program, at no charge. Under a bill in Congress, utilities would get 75% of the allowances they would need for free, and they would have to purchase 25% in an auction. The amount of allowances available would shrink over time, and the allowances given to utilities for free would also dwindle to about 28%, under the bill. Like other greenhouse-gas emitters, utilities that couldn't cut their emissions by the required amount could purchase emission offsets in the carbon markets to comply with the cap....More

An exceptionally well written article. Read the whole thing and you'll know more about this stuff than 99% of the population.

If that's not enticing enough, this post at Environmental Capital has Jim Rogers (DUK CEO) and comment by you know who.

Duke’s Rogers: A Bridge Too Far?

This one too.

How Much Green Do Shareholders Want?