Duke Energy CEO Backs Carbon Tax

Duke Energy Corp. will lobby for a tax on carbon dioxide emissions that would reduce fossil fuel consumption and begin dealing with the global warming problem, the company's chairman said Thursday.

"Personally, I feel the time has come to act - to take steps as a nation to reduce the carbon intensity of our economy," Paul Anderson told several hundred Charlotte business and civil leaders at a breakfast meeting. "And it's going to take all of us to do it."

Anderson acknowledged a national carbon tax would mean bigger utility bills and higher prices at the gas pump. But unless industry leaders take the lead, he said, the long-term outcome could be even more disastrous.

"If we (the U.S. energy industry) ignore the issue, we would be the easy target," he said. "The worst scenario would be if all 50 states took separate actions and we have to comply with 50 different laws."

For more information on Duke's environmental programs, click here. For its position statement on climate change, click here.

Technorati tags: Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

Comments

Norris McDonald said…

NO NEW TAXES! From an environmentalist supporter of nuclear power.

Commercial nukes should be credited with allowances via the Acid Rain program.

April 8, 2005 at 9:40 PM

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