Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said he's not a big believer in a cap-and-trade system that lets some polluters with money to spend on credits slip by without doing their share of reducing emissions.

"Everybody should be trying to cut back, not just find a way financially to continue to pollute," said Waddoups, a member of the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment committee. National Wildlife Federation regional outreach coordinator Doug Howell said Tuesday that the coalition's recommendations "did not send a strong enough signal that the interests of the public need to come before the interests of polluting industries."

"Today's agreement gives significant discretion to individual states on whether to require industries to buy their pollution permits," he said. "Giving away the right to pollute will undercut investments needed to move to a clean energy future and protect consumers and the region's natural resources."

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Contributing: Associated Press.

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