The coalition has focused on a "market-based" cap-and-trade system intended to dramatically cut climate-changing emissions. The Northeast and Midwest also have a similar Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Nielson said the Western initiative gives Utah a "critical" seat at the regional table to communicate a need for all energy resources while maintaining the state's coal-powered viability in a changing market.

The first phase of the cap-and-trade program is expected to begin Jan. 1, 2012, with coalition partners agreeing to begin reporting emissions in 2011 for emissions that occurred in 2010. A cap system for transportation fuels would be put in place in 2015.

The gases covered by Tuesday's recommendations are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. Emission sources include electricity generation, combustion at industrial and commercial facilities, and oil- and gas-process emissions.

The recommended strategy would limit emissions from major sources of greenhouse gases, while providing flexibility and economic benefits intended to spur continuous innovation of clean technologies, the coalition said.

The Environmental Protection Agency defines a cap-and-trade program as a means to limit overall emissions. Emitters would be allowed to release only a certain amount of pollutants. Emitters that stayed below their emissions limit and didn't use all of their allowances would be allowed to sell off the remaining allowances to other emitters that were either unable to meet their own limit or who found it cheaper to buy allowances instead if installing new pollution-control equipment.

Britt Weygandt, executive director of the Colorado-based Western Business Roundtable, said Tuesday in a prepared statement that Utah, which gets 90 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, would need to do more to meet the limits than California, which gets less than 30 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants. Power companies would pass the costs of purchasing and installing pollution controls on to consumers, he said.

"Thus, Utah consumers will be forced to bear a disproportionately higher burden under this regulatory approach than will California consumers," Weygandt contended.

But Utah Department of Environmental Quality Executive Director Rick Sprott said Utah is in a position to provide leadership in the West and nationally to increase energy efficiency.

"This market-based approach can help achieve the reductions that are needed to meet Utah's goal of reducing our emissions to 2005 levels by 2020," Sprott said. The Western coalition's regional goal is to reduce emissions to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.