Oct. 12--It's unlikely that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will drop its rabid opposition to pending climate and energy legislation because four of its three million members have defected over the issue. But when the brickbats fly from such companies as Apple computers and Pacific Gas & Electric, the chamber ought to consider that it might be on the wrong side of history.

Those companies, along with Exelon, the nation's largest generator of nuclear power, and PNM Resources, a large New Mexico utility, have resigned their chamber memberships over what Exelon's president called the chamber's "stridency against carbon legislation" -- the greenhouse gas cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House and pending in the Senate.

Nike is resigning its seat on the chamber's board of directors; General Electric and Johnson & Johnson have issued critical statements about the chamber's stance. Duke Energy, a big power producer, has resigned from the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Technology because those organizations oppose carbon legislation.

It's heartening to know that not all of America's business executives have their heads stuck in the sand on climate control issues.

The chamber says that cap-and-trade will increase our electricity and business costs and cost jobs. A vice president called for a "Scopes monkey trial" of the science of climate change.

Haven't we reached a national consensus that the burning of fossil fuels for energy is releasing gases, particularly carbon dioxide, that are thinning the atmosphere and warming the Earth's climate, with potentially disastrous results for millions of people?

All nations have agreed something must be done; some nations have taken action. After almost two decades of hand-wringing, this country seems on the verge of action, too.

The House has passed a bill (Waxman-Markey) with incentives for energy efficiency and alternative energy, but the core of the program would be a cap on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted (measured by the fuel moving at the pipeline or the minehead) and emission "allowances" that can be bought and sold.

The idea is that clean firms could sell their allowances to high-polluting firms, but the cost would push all industries toward fewer emissions. Under Waxman-Markey, the money from the sale of allowances would eventually flow to all citizens, to balance higher power and fuel costs.

Cap-and-trade has worked wonderfully well since 1994 in reducing the contaminants that produce acid rain. It's used in other nations, and in new carbon-control consortiums of Northeast, Midwest and Western states.

The House bill aims to reduce emissions by 17 percent in 2020 and by 83 percent in 2050; the goal of the Senate bill is 20 percent reduction by 2020.

The cap-and-trade scheme is an opportunity for businesses to save money and make money, a goad to innovation and experimentation. Only one of the 10 largest wind and solar energy companies today is American, according to the Harvard Business Review; we are letting leadership in this field slip to China, Germany and others.

American businesses that are fighting to preserve the uninhibited emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are taking a great leap backward.

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