US likely to limit carbon emissions - AEP
Date: 18-Feb-04
Country: UK
"We don't expect Kyoto timeframes to be enforced in the United States but we do expect international consensus on this issue (CO2 emissions) will prevail in the United States," Susan Tomasky, chief financial officer at AEP told a conference.
Proposals by some states in the Northeast to curb CO2 emissions were impractical but were a sign of pressure mounting on the United States to do more to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Tomasky said.
"The difficulty is where the emissions are and where the regulatory push is. In the Midwest where most coal-fired plants are, regulators don't want anything to do with (Kyoto)," she said.
"This is not a local problem. You can't address it on a state basis."
President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto treaty in 2001, arguing he could not back any agreement that would damage the U.S. economy.
Kyoto aims to cut rich countries' emissions of carbon dioxide by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
The United States is the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas which many scientists blame for causing global warming.
AEP, one of the biggest generators in the United States, is the largest burner of coal in the western hemisphere, Tomasky said.
The European Union is to launch a carbon dioxide trading scheme in early 2005 as part of its efforts to curb emissions of greenhouse gases.