ENERGY COMPANIES ADDRESS GLOBAL WARMING

What irony. Energy companies are beginning to address the issue of global warming, when the Bush administration won't.

Duke Energy Corp. will lobby for a tax on carbon dioxide emissions that would reduce fossil fuel consumption and begin addressing the global warming problem, the company’s chairman and chief executive said Thursday.
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“It is clear that the United States needs cohesive environmental and energy policies that break the continuing logjam, and we intend to take a leadership role in developing and advancing those policies,” he wrote.

“For example, we will be proactive on the issue of global climate change. By helping shape public policy, we can advance the interests of our investors and customers, while also addressing the issue itself.”

Cinergy took similar stand
Duke Energy, which ranked 86th in the recent Fortune 500 list, follows Cincinnati-based Cinergy Corp., which addressed global warming in an annual report issued last week.

“As a major coal-burning utility, some might expect us to duck this issue,” wrote James Rogers, chairman, president and chief executive. “But avoiding the debate over global climate change and failing to understand its consequences are not options for us.”

In Thursday’s speech, Anderson said the greatest attraction of a mandatory carbon tax is that “it allows us to share the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy — minimizing the disruption in any one area.”