Brandon Borgna of American Trucking Associations recently posted on BizCentral.org about the challenges that proposed cap-and-trade measures would place at the feet of the American business community. He writes:

Instituting a cap-and-trade program would require Congress to appropriate billions of dollars for the expansion of federal agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in order to handle their expanded responsibilities, according to The Washington Times.
 
A cap-and-trade scheme would create the nation’s largest commodity market almost overnight, requiring the CFTC and other federal agencies to closely monitor the buying and selling of carbon "allowances," which give companies the right to emit carbon dioxide. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the government’s expansion would cost $8 billion over a 10-year period. For the bill to operate effectively, nearly 1,500 new regulations and mandates would have to be approved for at least 21 federal agencies. The rule-making process alone would take years.
 
"The problem is that there’s a mismatch between the government’s capacity and its mission," said Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
 
As estimates about the true cost of cap-and-trade continue to rise, Senate Democrats have begun jumping ship on the proposed legislation, news reports say. Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) have urged the Senate to delay legislation that puts caps on greenhouse gas emissions and instead, pass a narrow bill that sets requirements on the use of renewable energy.
 
It is becoming obvious that the White House’s ambitious agenda is simply too costly to put in place, said the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "At a time when our nation’s leaders are desperately trying to find a way out of this economic quagmire, why would Congress consider a bill that would not only impose a national energy tax on every household and small business in the country, but also further restrict our domestic energy production," the Review-Journal said.

Congress returns to work on September 8. On that same day, Hoosiers can learn more about climate change and energy legislation being debated in Washington — and how it might impact Hoosier businesses.

The Northwest Indiana Forum and Nucor are sponsoring the Climate Change Forum at the South Bend Marriott. The 90-minute event (11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a complimentary lunch included) will tackle, in the organizers’ words: "the global scope of the climate change issue, the impact of greenhouse gases on our local communities, clean energy technology and recycling initiatives."

The goal: a focus on policies that create a sustainable balance between protecting our environment and developing our state’s business sector.

An RSVP is required. Call (866) 731-1929.

As students enter a new school year, I’ve been reminiscing about what was my impending college graduation in May 2000 and the decision facing me: What was I going to be when I grew up?

My desired field was writing. Since childhood, I’ve penned poems and stories, and even formed a rock band in sixth grade. I composed several songs and a few catchy melodies (well, that may be up for debate) on my sister’s Casio keyboard. But, when I considered career options, visions of ice cream danced in my head.

Although I’m a self-proclaimed Sugar Diva (one day, I’ll stop eating cereal and chocolate chip cookie dough for dinner), that’s not why I likened ice cream to job options. Imagine stepping into an ice cream parlor that offers a plethora of flavors, but doesn’t reveal your options. How would you know which flavor to choose? Similarly, I wondered how could I choose a career without knowing which options existed.

Fortunately, completing two college internships provided a taste of what was out there in the “real world.” My stint at a historical society involved research, while my role at a television station included serving as associate producer for a weekly community affairs show and writing commercials. Both internships helped me strengthen (and showcase) my skills, develop networking contacts and gain work experience to include on my résumé.

An invaluable resource today that wasn’t available at the time is Indiana INTERNnet, a free internship-matching program managed by the Indiana Chamber linking employers, students, high schools, colleges and universities. Its free online system connects Hoosier students with in-state employers (in a variety of fields and industries) for internship opportunities. Students can post résumés, search for internship openings offered by registered employers, access job and interviewing tips, and more.

It may sound strange, but viewing internships as ice cream flavors led me to a job I love. Check out Indiana INTERNnet. It just might help you sink your teeth into a new career.

Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar recently explained the Chamber’s perspective on the health care debate on Inside INdiana Business:

The band that brought you such ear-pleasing anthems as "Creep" and "Karma Police" announced this week that it plans to stop making albums, and focus on singles. Interesting concept, and it might prove fruitful. Although, I fear my life would have been far less enjoyable had Born to Run been released as a series of unconnected singles. On the upside, we probably never would have been introduced to Chris Gaines if the album concept hadn’t existed — so I guess it’s a push. At any rate, The New York Times has the story:

So, when Mr. Yorke announced a change of course for the band, saying it planned to stop making full-length records and turn its attention to singles, it sounded like an epitaph for the album, the broken backbone of the record industry’s longtime business model.

“None of us wants to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again,” Mr. Yorke told the Believer, a literary magazine based in San Francisco. “Not straight off. I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with ‘In Rainbows’ because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. It’ll kill us.”

Radiohead’s shift to singles reflects a change in music fans’ preferences. Instead of buying whole albums, they now stream or download just the songs they want. That, along with unauthorized copying, has decimated industry revenues.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, U.S. sales of albums, in physical and digital form, fell 14 percent last year, continuing a multiyear decline. While consumers bought more than a billion individual digital tracks in the United States, which accounts for a majority of online sales worldwide, they bought only 65 million digital albums in 2008.

Efforts are under way to try to make albums less of a drag. Apple and the major record companies are reportedly working on projects to include liner notes, lyrics, artwork, music videos and other extras with digital downloads.

They could start by examining Radiohead’s experiment with “In Rainbows.” The band’s publisher, Warner Chappell, reported that more than three million copies of the album were distributed in the first year, in digital and physical formats. Some people paid nothing, but the album still made more money than either of the band’s previous two records, Warner Chappell said. And the marketing buzz from the “pay what you want” model helped drive the CD to the top of the charts.

The business experts at Kiplinger recently offered the following odds on the major issues facing Congress:

• Health care overhaul: 3 to 2 (seems a little optimistic, but they note that President Obama will likely accept less than what is currently on the table to win a deal before the end of the year)
• Energy cap and trade: 1 to 6 (Kiplinger: a bigger push in 2010)
• Financial regulations: 3 to 2
• Stimulus Part 11: 3 to 2 (I’m surprised by this one, but Kiplinger believes states will push for it in the face of a "jobless recovery")
• Surface transportation: 0 (reauthorization put off until 2010)

Agree or disagree?

So what has Jim Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy, been up to in recent months?

• Appearing on "60 Minutes" to support cap and trade, while also discussing on the show the necessity of carbon capture and sequestration of coal
• Talking to the top players in China’s power industry about partnering on clean energy technologies
• Being named the 2009 Citizen of the Carolinas by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce (some of the past winners: Rev. Billy Graham, Dean Smith, Michael Jordan and Ben Bernanke)

Rogers "comes home" to Indiana on September 2 as the keynote speaker for the Indiana Conference on Energy Management. Rogers came to Plainfield-based PSI Energy in 1988 as chairman, president and CEO. Mergers led to similar roles at Cinergy in Cincinnati and then Duke, one of the nation’s largest energy companies.

“When Jim Rogers arrived at PSI Energy  in the late 1980s, he brought a level of enthusiasm and vision that challenged the historically conservative power industry,” declares Vince Griffin, who worked for Rogers at that time and is now the Indiana Chamber vice president of environmental and energy policy. “This is unquestionably a challenging time for the electric power industry. Jim Rogers will undoubtedly bring his passion and perspective to this energy conference."

Duke Energy is also looking at its Edwardsport, Indiana facility as a pilot project for the future with its investment in a 630-megawatt IGCC (integrated gasification combined cycle) facility.