Group says industry lobbyists try to 'water down' climate initiative

In a June 2008 letter from a law firm representing companies like Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., Questar and U.S. Magnesium, concerns were expressed about conflicting and overlapping regulatory requirements from the WCI. Collectively the group is called Utah Business Climate Change Coalition.

"To the extent there are two systems, the WCI cap-and-trade system should be no broader, and no more stringent, than any federal system," the group told WCI officials through the law firm Parsons, Behle & Latimer.

Utah Clean Energy's Sarah Wright noted that the goal for Utah's role in the WCI is to reduce emissions to 2005 levels by 2020, which calls for a "modest" imposition on industry emitters, she said.

"You can get to most of that through energy efficiency and modest investments in renewable energy," Wright said about the goal set by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. But she did not offer comment specific to the Sierra Club's charge against industry.

"Working in a carbon-constrained world that presents new challenges and opportunities is a new world for them," Wright said about tougher emissions standards and the WCI's potential impact on industry. "Change can be hard."

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