Jim Rogers Does Not Care About Climate Change

A recent Businessweek article by Paul M. Barrett makes the case that Jim Rogers, the soon-to-be retiring CEO of Duke Energy, should be the next Secretary of Energy.  While leading America's largest electric utility, Rogers surprised industry observers by supporting cap-and-trade legislation for carbon dioxide emissions.  Because of his background as both a business leader and environmentalist, he would appear to have strong bipartisan credentials for the Department of Energy position under President Obama.

I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Rogers speak in a small group setting this past November.  I was impressed by his honesty and openness, but was not pleased by content of his talk.  When asked why he supported the failed Waxman-Markey cap and trade legislation, Mr. Rogers smiled and said:

"My time in Washington taught me something.  When there is a big movement behind something, you either get trampled by the parade or you jump out in front of it.

This is going to sound cold-hearted and pragmatic – which I am.  I never had a 'polar bear' moment.  I’m a jump in front of the parade kind of guy."

Mr. Rogers supported the cap-and-trade legislation because he believed that cap-and-trade was going to pass regardless of his actions, and he wanted to get involved in order to delay implementation and lesson the burden on electric utilities.  In particular, Mr. Rogers sought to support utilities such as his own which have invested heavily in coal-fired generation.  Mr. Rogers is a shrewd businessman and a talented public speaker, but his values are not as environmentally friendly as his public persona would suggest.  For this reason, I cannot support Jim Rogers to be the next Secretary of Energy.  His reign would be one of sandbagging and greenwashing rather than meaningful progress on energy and environmental issues.