Electric Utilities

As the Senate prepares to take up climate change legislation, members are hearing from the electric utilities industry, which may have more at stake in this bill than any other sector.

The Edison Electric Institute, representing investor-owned utilities, has been vocal throughout the process, calling for even more free emissions permits than the House gave away in its American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) bill.

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry front group with a budget topping $20 million and ties to the phony letters scandal, is launching a campaign over Congress's August recess to push farm- and industrial-state senators to make the climate bill friendlier to coal.

This week, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), whose members represent more than 90% of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States, also weighed in with its own proposal for an all-of-the-above approach to energy, which it promises would cut emissions, too — with 50 new nuclear plants and plenty of coal.

“There is no silver bullet” for keeping up with electricity demand while cutting emissions, EPRI CEO Steve Specker said. “We need everything.”