_Iowa’s largest energy utility opposes cap and trade plan_ 
(http://iowaindependent.com/15321/iowas-largest-energy-utility-opposes-cap-and-trade-plan) 

 (http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php)  By _Jason Hancock_ 
(http://iowaindependent.com/author/jhancock/)  5/20/09 10:57 AM 
 
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. has officially come out against a bill 
aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions currently being considered in the 
U.S. House. 
The legislation seeks to reduce emissions by imposing a national limit, or 
cap, on greenhouse gases. It would then allow polluters to buy and sell 
their emissions credits. If a polluter emitted less than its allotment, it could 
sell the excess. 
David Sokol, MidAmerican’s chairman, said in a statement that cap-and-trade 
legislation _“will force our customers to pay two expensive costs.”_ 
(http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=200905
18006541&newsLang=en)  
“First, they will pay the cost of emissions allowances purchased on a 
complex auction market that will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; 
and second, they will pay the cost of replacing our existing fossil-fuel 
generation facilities with low-carbon alternatives.” 
MidAmerican’s decision stand in contrast to many of America’s industrial 
giants, including General Electric, Dow Chemical, Shell Oil and Duke Energy, 
who support the plan. Iowa’s other big energy provider, Alliant Energy,_ 
supports the measure._ 
(http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090514/BUSINESS/705149924/1007)  
 
(http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090514/BUSINESS/705149924/1007) Supporters of the plan say it creates a system that rewards 
companies for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and uses the free 
enterprise system to wean the country off fossil fuels and onto renewable 
energy. 
Sokol said the a recession is not a good time to propose such a sweeping 
piece of legislation. 
“Cap and trade will have a profoundly negative impact on people who are 
struggling to make ends meet in an economy still in distress,” he said. 
President Barack Obama also has made a cap-and-trade bill a priority.
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