Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips and BP America announced last week that they are leaving the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of more than two dozen environmental groups and businesses lobbying for climate change legislation.
Officials from BP America and ConocoPhillips said that they are pulling out of the alliance because the bills circulating in Congress are unfair to American industry and will deter growth in the transportation sector.
"House climate legislation and Senate proposals to date have disadvantaged the transportation sector and its consumers, left domestic refineries unfairly penalized versus international competition and ignored the critical role that natural gas can play in reducing GHG emissions," said ConocoPhillips chief executive Jim Mulva.
He added that his company will focus on developing a lower-emission fuel as well as natural gas to help reduce emissions and create jobs, according to The Wall Street Journal.
BP America spokesman Ronnie Chappell noted that the bills’ allowance structure for coal-burning electric utilities would soften the demand for natural gas and would make the carbon market much more volatile.
The push for climate change reform has slowed over the past few months due to bipartisan skepticism regarding cap-and-trade legislation and controversy concerning the science behind global warming. 