LINKING ENERGY TO CLIMATE-CHANGE POLICY

Abstract

AS CONGRESS PREPARES to take up its first major global warming bill, chemical manufacturers and other fossil-fuel-dependent businesses are warning lawmakers that energy costs will skyrocket if mandatory limits are placed on greenhouse gas emissions. “We are trying to educate people about the link between natural gas and climate change,” says Thomas J. Gibson, senior vice president of advocacy for the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the industry’s chief lobbying organization. “What Congress keeps missing is that we need more natural gas, not less.” Despite the politics of an election year, Gibson and other trade association officials aren’t ruling out congressional action this year on global warming and a host of other key issues, including energy, security, taxes, and transportation. Major business organizations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, remain adamantly opposed to so-called cap-and-trade proposals to cut emissions linked to climate change, main...