Kentuckian to co-chair conference on climate change

KENTUCKY: Gardner to co-chair national conference on climate change

Jim Gardner, vice chairman of the Kentucky Public Service Commission, will co-chair a national conference looking at how climate change policies will affect utilities. The conference, titled "Utilities of the Future: Implications of a Carbon Constrained World," will take place in December.

"With our reliance on coal to generate nearly all of our electricity, no state will be affected more than Kentucky by coming constraints on carbon emissions from power plants," Gardner said. The carbon constraints, expected to make burning coal more expensive, are "inevitable."

"The challenge for us in Kentucky is to determine how to meet those constraints while maintaining financially healthy utilities that can provide reliable service at a reasonable cost to their customers," he said.

We'll have to wait a while to find out if anything of substance comes of the conference.

Also in the South:

ALABAMA: Democrats try for fourth time to remove tax on groceries

ARKANSAS: Legislators propose temporary coverage for uninsured for flu

FLORIDA: House, Senate agree on budget that will raise taxes and deliver fewer services

GEORGIA: Gov. Perdue signs law that will overhaul state health system

LOUISIANA: Animal fat refinery plant creating biodiesel to go online in 2010

MISSISSIPPI: Debate continues over mental health courts in state

NORTH CAROLINA: Two bills would put local and county governments in charge of roads

SOUTH CAROLINA: Filibuster may be next for payday lending bill

TENNESSEE: State legislators may soon allow guns in bars

VIRGINIA: Ousted GOP chairman urges votes against new chairman

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