Some of the nation's largest corporations, including BP America and Ford Motor Co., have released a study showing that a carbon cap-and-trade system would not inhibit U.S. economic growth and could create up to 150,000 new jobs.
The analysis unveiled Wednesday by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, made up of 26 corporations and five environmental groups, shows U.S. output and consumer purchasing power will suffer only negligibly if climate change legislation goes into effect.
For example, the study found that consumer purchasing power in the United States will increase about $8,000 per household by 2015 even if a carbon cap-and-trade system becomes law. Without such environmental mandates, consumer purchasing power would increase about $8,057 by 2015.
"We are not saying that there are no costs," said Melissa Lavinson, of Pacific Gas & Electric. "But those costs are really minimal."
The partnership's study is the latest in a long string of studies commissioned by groups both for and against climate-change legislation, with each side bandying their figures about like keen-edged swords.
Gov. Mitch Daniels in a column in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, called the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill then working its way through the U.S. House "imperialism." He said its provisions would double Hoosiers' utility bills.
Local utility NIPSCO also has weighed in on the debate, coming up with a somewhat lower but still expensive figure of $219 in increased annual utility costs per customer.
It is generally agreed utility bills would go up in Indiana because more than 95 percent of the state's electricity is produced by coal-burning power plants. Under a carbon cap-and-trade system like that in Waxman-Markey, those plants would initially get a free pass on most of their carbon dioxide emissions but in later years would have to buy costly allowances if emissions exceed their allotted caps.
The Climate Change Partnership in January released A Blueprint for Legislative Action that contained a number of policy recommendations that would help states like Indiana transition to a low-carbon economy, said Jeffrey Hopkins, an adviser on energy and climate strategy with worldwide mining giant Rio Tinto.
The study did not crunch the expenses of a carbon cap-and-trade system state by state.
The right mix of incentives for new technology and carbon allowances for heavy industry will help Indiana, Hopkins said. He talked about Indiana's situation when a Times reporter pointed out the potential impact climate-change legislation would have on industries like steel and the state's utilities during a telephone conference call.
As an example of how technology can solve the climate-change conundrum he pointed to a joint project of Rio Tinto and BP America in California that will produce hydrogen from coke and then direct carbon emissions underground to a nearby oil field where they will help keep the field producing.
The blueprint report's provisions for allowances and clean coal technology would aid states like Indiana in avoiding price shocks to consumers and businesses, Hopkins said.
"I think coal can become a low-carbon fuel in the future," said Jeffrey Hopkins, an adviser on energy and climate strategy with worldwide mining giant Rio Tinto. "It has to -- both in the U.S. and globally."
