MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company Opposes Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company Chairman David L. Sokol said today that H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act introduced by Representatives Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), will impose prohibitive rate increases for customers of MidAmerican Energy Company and PacifiCorp, and that MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company will oppose the bill in the House of Representatives.

“The Waxman-Markey bill is a cap and trade program that will force our customers to pay two expensive costs,” Sokol said. “First, they will pay the cost of emissions allowances purchased on a complex auction market that will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and second, they will pay the cost of replacing our existing fossil-fuel generation facilities with low-carbon alternatives.”

As a result, Sokol said MidAmerican could not join the Edison Electric Institute in endorsing Waxman-Markey. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce began legislative consideration of the measure today. “Cap and trade will have a profoundly negative impact on people who are struggling to make ends meet in an economy still in distress,” Sokol added.

Sokol said MidAmerican supports carbon emission reductions and believes the electric sector can achieve the 83 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 called for in the Waxman-Markey bill while avoiding the costs of emissions allowances.

“We will, therefore, continue to work with Congress on an alternative compliance mechanism to be enacted for the states that will reach the same greenhouse gas emission goals in Waxman-Markey,” Sokol added.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is a global provider of energy services. Through its energy-related business platforms – PacifiCorp, MidAmerican Energy Company, CE Electric UK, Kern River Gas Transmission Company, Northern Natural Gas Company and CalEnergy – MidAmerican provides electric and natural gas service to more than 6.9 million customers worldwide. Information on MidAmerican is available on the Internet at www.midamerican.com.