By Adam Allington / KBIA
Columbia, MO – University of Missouri President Gary Forsee is defending his statements that proposed 'cap and trade' climate legislation would raise costs for the M-U system.
Forsee wrote a letter to Missouri's congressional delegation expressing his opposition to the energy plan.
Some have accused Forsee of contradicting himself since he has signed on to a nationwide pledge to eliminate campus greenhouse gas emissions over time.
Speaking in Columbia on Wednesday Forsee says his stand is not a contradiction, and he doesn't consider it to be political either.
"My view is this wasn't a policy debate," says Forsee. "This wasn't a debate over science, or a debate over facts about where we are in our environment. That's taking place in a lot of very important forums and our university researchers are right in the middle of that. This was an issue about our budget. That's all it was"
Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigated Forsee's concerns and found his budget calculations to be grossly inflated, since the university's power plant would be exempt from emissions guidelines because of the small amount of electricity it sells on the grid.