WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Platts -- A top Bush
administration official warned Tuesday that the incoming Democratic-
controlled Congress would raise energy prices if it makes good on its promise
to pass legislation curbing industrial greenhouse gas emissions that are
blamed for global warming.
Harlan Watson, a State Department official who serves as the
administration’s chief international climate-change negotiator, made the
comments at Platts Energy Podium, a Washington newsmaker event.
A climate bill with mandatory emissions caps would spur "fairly large
increases in electricity costs," Watson said. It would do so by discouraging
the use of coal and "encouraging fuel-switching" to more expensive natural
gas, he added.
Watson rebuffed an argument made frequently by Democrats and
environmental groups that Congress could cap greenhouse gas emissions just as
it took steps in the 1990s to cap sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions that were
blamed for "acid rain."
Watson said there are "very important differences" between the two
scenarios. In the case of the acid rain program, the technology that was
needed to curb utility SO2 emissions was "essentially on the shelf, ready to
go," he said. Moreover, the United States had a large supply of low-sulfur
coal that it could use and transport around the country easily thanks to a
well-developed railroad infrastructure, he added.
"We have no low-carbon source of coal," Watson said, adding that the
availability of cleaner-burning gas is "limited."
Watson also offered a somewhat bleak assessment of the United Nations
global-warming conference that he attended in Nairobi, Kenya, last month.
Watson said he "got into loggerheads" with negotiators from developing
countries on how to proceed on the issue of technology transfer, which is one
of the administration’s chief policies for addressing global climate change.
Watson also emphasized the difficulties he had in trying to convince
China and other developing countries to take steps to curb their greenhouse
gas emissions. "They are not about to put their economic growth in harm’s
way" to address global warming, he said.
"You just can’t talk down to them" about the need to curb emissions,
Watson said. "They’re going to have to be convinced" that they can do it in
a way that does not slow their economic growth, he added.
To that end, Watson touted 98 clean-development projects that the
administration unveiled last month as part of its Asia-Pacific Partnership, a
global-warming initiative that seeks to curb greenhouse gas emissions in
China, India and four other Asian countries.
Thirteen of the projects seek to improve the efficiency of coal-fired
power plants in China, India and other developing countries. More than 100
engineers from those countries came to Columbus, Ohio, last month to learn
from U.S. experts how to improve the efficiency of their plants, Watson
noted.
"Hopefully, they’re going to carry that (information) back and implement
it in their own countries," Watson said.
Hosted by Platts, the world’s leading energy information provider and a
division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Platts Energy Podium provides an
ongoing forum for prominent newsmakers and the press to address important
energy and environmental issues. Credentialed media may receive complementary
registration for Energy Podium events by contacting Nancy Covey at 202-942-
8719, Nancy_Covey@platts.com. A recording of the Watson session is available
via podcast at http://platts.com/energypodium/index.xml/ .
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