Climate-change initiatives would require cost analysis

Efforts by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and state legislators to address climate-change issues could be subject to economic-impact studies, under provisions of a bill that passed a Senate committee hearing Tuesday after garnering overwhelming House approval on Monday.

HB412, sponsored by Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville, calls for an analysis to "determine the economic impacts of a proposed legislative or executive action involving climate change."

Barrus told the Senate Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Standing Committee that the intent of the bill is to conduct an economic-impact evaluation of "anything that takes us down a path that binds the state" to an agreement with economic repercussions.

Barrus said that energy efficiency and conservation issues would not be addressed by provisions of the bill, only those pieces of legislation, "executive orders" or "executive actions" that dealt with climate-change issues.

"If, as part of the Western Climate Initiative, the governor signed on to a resolution that Utah will follow a specific path for carbon management, we as a state would not do that without conducting an economic-impact study," he said.

Barrus warned that Utah, which uses coal-fired power generation for over 90 percent of its electricity needs, could be unduly affected under regional "cap-and-trade" or carbon-sequestration programs. These programs are some of the issues that have been addressed by the Western Climate Initiative, a group of seven Western states and four Canadian provinces formed to create plans for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and the Western Governors Association, a group of 22 state and territorial governors that have also proposed climate-change plans. Huntsman is a member of both groups.

Barrus' bill will move to the Senate floor for further consideration. The House approved the bill on a veto-proof 55-16 vote on Monday.

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