Twenty-nine panelists have accepted the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s invitation to amplify on the  proposals they submitted for the committee’s April 4 climate conference.

Next Tuesday, the Energy Committee will host a day-long conference (9:30 a.m. to noon and 2:30 to 5:00 p.m.) to address the challenge of how Congress might go about creating a mandatory trading program to control U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.  Conference guidelines will be included on the committee website, www.energy.senate.gov .

[BACKGROUND: Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), the committee's chairman and ranking member, invited interested parties to submit comments as part of the committee's bipartisan effort to find common ground on the next steps for addressing domestic greenhouse gas emissions.  Last month, the senators issued a "white paper" that included four basic questions about design elements of a mandatory market-based greenhouse gas regulatory system.]

Panel 1:  Business Perspectives on Policy Design

Duke Energy Corp.
Exelon Corp.
General Electric Co.
PNM Resources
Sempra Energy
Shell
Southern Company
Wal-Mart Inc.

Panel 2:  Analysis of Domestic Design Options

American Council for Capital Formation
Center for Clean Air Policy
Congressional Budget Office
Electric Power Research Institute
National Commission on Energy Policy
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Resources for the Future

Panel 3: Perspectives on Domestic Design

Alliance to Save Energy
Clean Energy Group
Edison Electric Institute
Environmental Defense
Generators for Clean Air
National Mining Association
National Rural Electric Cooperative
Natural Resources Defense Council

Panel 4:  Trading and International Competitiveness

American Electric Power
Chicago Climate Exchange
Climate Policy Center
Natsource
Pew Center
World Resources Institute