Power Exec Struggles With Industry

James Rogers may head the power industry’s main trade association, but he disagrees with the group’s opposition to emissions caps. The forward-thinking CEO wants energy providers and the Bush administration to accept the reality of global warming and embrace the future: “The science says we need to act.”

Rogers has adopted what he calls “cathedral thinking,” a view that tackling climate change is a chance for the industry to leave a proud environmental legacy for future generations.

This philosophy may not deliver results as quickly as environmentalists would like, or sit well with all his counterparts, but it does aptly describe an approach toward reducing greenhouse gases that a small but growing number of power executives are embracing.

“The science says we need to act,” said Rogers. Of course, shifting political winds are an equally persuasive force in an industry that accounts for almost 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

Rogers and many other executives are convinced the United States is likely to join Europe in placing limits on carbon dioxide emissions — believed by scientists to cause global warming — perhaps as early as next decade. This rising expectation of mandatory carbon caps is reviving interest in nuclear power, accelerating the use cleaner coal-burning technologies and spurring investment in alternative fuels such as wind and biomass.

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