Energy secretary applauds companies for quitting Chamber of Commerce

October 9, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments | |

upiphotos940577-steven-chuU.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu publicly complimented Apple, PG&E and the other companies that have recently resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its opposition to greenhouse gas restrictions. At a solar energy event in the nation’s capital, he said “I think it’s wonderful,” criticizing the Chamber for its stall tactics and antiquated position on global warming.

Chu even encouraged other companies across all sectors to follow the lead of these companies. He emphasized the Chamber’s need to realize the economic opportunity inherent in climate protections, instead of mulling over the negatives. “The United States can lead in a new industrial revolution,” he said.

The Chamber’s president and CEO Thomas Donohue continues to brush off critics. Yesterday, he held a small press conference to reiterate the group’s negative stance on the Waxman-Markey carbon trading bill currently pending in the Senate. He stressed that most of its members support their position and that they have no plans to change course even if more companies on the same tier as Apple and Nike decide to withdraw.

Donohue also tried out a new approach, accusing environmental groups of exerting undue pressure on the defecting companies. “There is underway an orchestrated pressure campaign by a couple of environmental groups,” he said. All in all, fewer than 12 companies have spoken against the Chamber’s opposition to the measures (which include new Environmental Protection Agency regulations via the Clean Air Act), Donohue said.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.

  • Global warming or no global warming, what the heck is wrong with keep our planet clean and green?
  • Frank
    Please do an investigative study on why only the very big companies welcome more regulations and laws. Why are not small companies, or even medium sized companies exiting the Chamber?

    Look back in history for several industries. You will find that the very big companies support higher industry standards and more regulations, even tough it will cost them money. Why?

    It's all about common sense and self interest. Regulation and standards cost a lot of money to keep up with and to comply with. Big companies are able to foot this bill on quantity, they will suffer some, but much less than the smaller guy. It's all about Barriers to Entry.
    All this red tape makes it very hard for new entrants in a given industry. They may get a foot in, but only to later be acquired by the big fish.

    As or Apple, a company doing all their manufacturing in China, this is just ridicules. Lets make all the iPhones here in the US with unionized labour, red tape all the place and cap and trade in place. Let's see how the price of the iPhone and its adoption rate will be then.
  • loganward
    I'm all for cleaning up the planet and limiting pollutants. But I'm sorry, CO2 isn't a pollutant. If anyone has an "antiquated position on global warming", it's those pushing for the Waxman-Markey bill. The world is slowly finding out that the "conventional wisdom" and phony science of man-made global warming is on shakey ground.

    Let's be clean and green, but for conservation and efficiency's sake. Not because we're "dangerously warming the earth".
  • youngluck
    I applaud companies taking a stand against the old farts in the chamber... they're still debating evolution for Pete's sake... On a totally unrelated matter: I love VentureBeats commenting system.
  • I am by no means an expert on the environment, but the sound of "clean coal" sounds like a bit of an oxymoron. Wouldn't areas like wind and solar make a bigger difference?