U.S. Northeast Carbon Price Falls on Senate Climate Bill Doubts

The permits dropped the day after Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman unveiled legislation that combines a national cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases with measures to boost domestic energy production, including offshore drilling.

Northeast carbon prices track the fortunes of national cap- and-trade legislation and "the prospects right now are tough," Greg Arnold, managing partner at Solana Beach, California-based energy fund manager CE2 Capital Partners LLC, said in a telephone interview.