MidAmerican’s David Sokol: Cap and Trade to Add $120/month to Electric Bills
Published on June 9, 2009 at 9:19 pm
MidAmerican Chairman David Sokol was interviewed by Bloomberg today in Washington and the video appears at the end of this article. Mr. Sokol has been advocating for the elimination of the concept of trading carbon credits which is a central feature of the “cap and trade” system that is currently being debated in Congress. Mr. Sokol believes that the government should simply mandate a cap and public utilities and other carbon emitters should be forced to adhere to that cap. In his opinion, the concept of trading carbon credits would simply amount to an additional tax on consumers which he estimates at $120 per month for a typical family.
The Obama Administration and “Cap and Trade” advocates in Congress often promise to use funds raised by auctioning emission permits to offset the higher electric costs to lower income households. However, Mr. Sokol would prefer to have a system where this additional layer of costs are not imposed to begin with and attention is instead focused on the massive investments required to retrofit power plants to reduce emissions to meet the prescribed caps by the ultimate 2050 deadline.
MidAmerican is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and a frequent subject on this website. An article appeared here last week regarding Mr. Sokol’s views on the housing market and the limited effectiveness of government actions intended to return the economy to prosperity.
A Bloomberg article has been published regarding this interview and the video can be seen below or, for those viewing this article via an RSS feed, by clicking on this link.
Disclosure: The author owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. MidAmerican is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
Related posts:
- MidAmerican’s David Sokol on Housing Market: No “Green Shoots” Yet It appears that MidAmerican Energy's Chairman David Sokol is taking...
- David Sokol on Cap & Trade, Buffett’s Environmental Philosophy Fortune Magazine’s Brainstorm Green Conference, which took place last week,...
- Book Review: Pleased But Not Satisfied by David Sokol David Sokol has been in the news many times over...
- David Sokol: Looking More Like Buffett’s Successor David Sokol appeared on CNBC this morning and commented on...
- MidAmerican Energy and BYD Partner on Battery Storage Initiative Most of the excitement related to BYD has centered on...
Short URL: http://www.rationalwalk.com/?p=1934
Contact the Author
