Fossil Fuels` Free Ride Is Over
A diverse group of investment bankers, energy executives, government officials and clean energy advocates has agreed that the environmental cost of producing energy should be factored into its price, and that Congress must develop energy policies that move away from fossil fuels.
At the American Council On Renewable Energy's fourth annual conference, held in Washington last week, money managers on Wall Street, self-described conservatives, a Bush administration official, and energy company BP spoke as one, declaring that fossil fuels have gotten a free ride in emitting greenhouse gases, and that the day of reckoning is long overdue.
The conference is focused on influencing energy and environment policymaking at the national and international levels.
Katrina Landis, vice president of BP Alternative Energy said she is 'looking forward to a world with an industry wide carbon price.'
Landis, whose employer is one of the world's leading sellers of fossil fuels, said she favors a cap-and-trade system of selling emissions credits over a carbon tax.
Speaking at the conference hosted and sponsored by the House of Representatives, Landis agreed with many of the other speakers in calling on the Congress to craft more sustainable policies.
She supports a federal renewable portfolio standard that would require the purchase of a set percentage of renewable energy because 'stopgap policies tend to increase cost.'
The current process of one-to-three year incentives is frustrating consumers and producers of clean energy, she said.
Legislators should create bold programs for incentivizing the use of renewable energy such as California's solar initiative because 'the effective policies have been the agressive ones,' said Landis.
Congress is now moving forward with what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls 'historic energy legislation that will reduce our dependence on foreign fuels and promote energy efficiency.'
'We have made significant progress toward completing this package and hope to have a final agreement next week,' Pelosi said Thursday. 'This energy package will lay the groundwork for the Congress to move forward next year with comprehensive action to address climate change.'
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