Emission limits will pummel Midwest, study says
Nationwide limits on greenhouse gas emissions will sock the Midwest in the wallet, but they’re the key to the struggling region’s hope for economic rebirth, a Chicago Council on Global Affairs task force declares in a report to be released Monday.
The task force includes labor leaders, university presidents and several utility and manufacturing executives, and its co-chairs include the chief executive of energy giant Exelon Corp. The group will issue a report that urges the region’s policy-makers to embrace emissions limits as a catalyst for future growth.
The basic argument is blunt: Emissions limits are coming, but if Midwest leaders take a role in shaping them, they could craft the new rules to the region’s advantage.