Heat on the U.S. Chamber

Heat on the U.S. Chamber

Sacramento Bee: On the issue of climate change, PG&E — the massive, privately owned utility that serves most of northern California — has been a leader, taking steps to reduce the utility’s own carbon footprint.

Now PG&E has stepped forward once again, pulling its membership from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the chamber’s over-the-top opposition to climate change legislation and regulation. This is a great move that other companies should follow.

PG&E’s chairman and CEO, Peter Darbee, said he was withdrawing the company from the chamber because of “fundamental differences” over climate change. Darbee’s discomfort has apparently been building for some time. The final straw was the chamber’s call for a special trial to challenge climate change science, along the lines of the Scopes monkey trial.

Compelling data

“We find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored,” Darbee wrote in a letter to the chamber. “In our opinion, an intellectually honest argument over the best policy response to the challenges of climate change is one thing; disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality of these challenges are quite another.”

Darbee noted that other business groups, including the Edison Electric Institute and the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, have sought to build consensus for constructive solutions to global warming rather than taking the combative approach pursued by the chamber.