The chief executive of Exelon announced his company was leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, making it the third utility in a week to quit the group over the Chamber’s opposition to climate legislation. The Chicago-based utility has been a major supporter of capping carbon dioxide emissions to address global warming.
CEO John Rowe announced that Exelon would not renew its membership to the Chamber. Previously, PG&E and PNM Resources announced they were quitting the Chamber over its opposition to the cap-and-trade climate bill being considered by Congress.
Excelon is one the nation’s largest electric and gas utilities. Exelon’s corporate goal is to reduce, offset or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020. So far, it has advanced about one-third of way towards its goal by eliminating nearly 6 million metric tons of emissions, which is equivalent to taking 1 million cars off the highway.
God bless the corporate folks at Excelon for taking a stand on this issue.
