Thursday, August 26, 2010

John Deere latest to drop out of cap and trade global warming pressure group

Deere follows Caterpillar, BP and ConocoPhillips Co. out of USCAP.
  • 8/25, Dow Jones: "Deere & Co. has quietly dropped out of a coalition of large companies that has supported a cap-and-trade program for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Deere, the world's largest manufacturer of farm machinery, opted to leave the U.S. Climate Action Partnership in May because the group's legislative strategy "no longer served as a foundation for moving forward" with climate change regulation, Ken Golden, a spokesman for the company said Tuesday.

The Moline, Ill., company joins a handful of other companies that have left the partnership in recent months, as political support erodes for comprehensive energy legislation that includes a cap-and-trade program and stricter mandates for energy conservation. Other members to leave the group include construction machinery company Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), and energy companies BP PLC (BP.LN, BP) and ConocoPhillips Co. (COP)

  • A spokesman for the partnership, Tad Segal, offered no reaction to Deere's reasons for leaving the group, but credited the company with "playing a valuable and significant role" in developing the group's policy initiatives....

About two dozen companies remain in the group, including corporate heavyweights General Electric Co. (GE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Siemens AG (SIE), and Alcoa Inc. (AA) The group also has picked up four new members in the past year, including Honeywell International Inc. (HON) and Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY)

  • The Washington-based coalition, which was founded in 2007, has been a lightning rod for opposition since its January 2009 Blueprint for Legislative Action recommended creating a phased-in cap-and-trade system for U.S. producers of carbon dioxide, the main ingredient in the heat-trapping greenhouse gas
  • identified as the source of climate warming."...

(Dow Jones apparently believes 'climate warming' exists but doesn't say how they know this. ed).

  • (continuing, Dow Jones): "Deere made a decision independent of the opinions of other organizations," Golden, the company spokesman, said. "Our involvement with various trade and industry organizations is routinely reviewed."

He added the company remains affiliated with other environmental groups that it believes can effectively influence climate change legislation. Deere is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders program and participates in the Business Environmental Leadership Council."

via Climate Depot

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