“The public opinion has changed and the Democrats have taken over the House and the Senate. So companies feel the rising pressure to do something about greenhouse gases,” says Ernst Worrell, manager at Ecofys working with various American energy companies on energy and climate strategies.

“Al Gore’s movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ has had an enormous impact”, says Worrell. “Companies started to acknowledge that they don’t operate in isolation. First things start changing in California and the Northeast. But what’s happening there is usually a precursor of what’s going to come for the US.”

Local environmental activism has led to regional laws which, power companies fear, will result in a patchwork of different regulations. In California for example, there is a law capping the carbon emissions at the 1990 level and in the Northeast, ten states are setting up a carbon trading system, which should be up and running by 2009.

EPSA’s president and CEO John Selk explains: “Many states are initiating and implementing policies of their own, and as the discussion continues with regard to federal action that should establish a national program, EPSA companies will be an important part of the solution.” In other words: power companies are no longer the problem, but the road to solutions.

“Companies estimate that legislation is unavoidable and try to make the best of it,” Worrell explains. “They want to have a say in the legislation and if a carbon trading system is set up, they want to be sure to be in a good position. But also, they need to know what legislation is coming to them to decide on investments. A power plant is built for 30 to 40 years or more. So what should you choose: coal or gas?”

ESPA acknowledges the investment pressure: “Our nation is addressing climate change at a time when it needs significant investment in new generation to meet future projected demand.”

Meanwhile, in Washington energy, environment and technology committees are working on legislation that should protect the climate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted to the 2 February IPPC findings and said that new energy and climate laws could be presented on 4 July.

Last month senators Joseph Lieberman and Barack Obama (Democrats) together with John McCain (Republican) introduced a bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2% per year, reducing US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Two years ago, a similar bill was proposed by McCain and Lieberman, but it was then defeated in the (Republican) Senate.