US cap and trade: Delayed, but not dead

Without federal direction on climate change, the US energy industry remains in legislative limbo

HARRY REID has thrown in the towel. When the US Senate majority leader introduced his energy bill in late July, the controversial cap-and-trade mechanism that would have reduced the country's carbon emissions was missing in action. Instead of a comprehensive energy package, Reid's watered-down version focused more on oil spill accountability and clean-energy jobs than on combating climate change. Quite simply, Reid said, the votes were not there to get the bill passed. The cap-and-trade provisions would have imposed limits on emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to climate change. To achieve those limits, the federal government would have alloca