(Bloomberg) -- Major energy companies, including the largest U.S. nuclear power generator, are putting millions of dollars into a new political campaign to push for a tax on carbon dioxide emissions -- a measure President Donald Trump has said he opposes.

Exelon Corp., is giving $1 million toward the cause, joining renewable power manufacturer First Solar Inc. and the American Wind Energy Association in helping underwrite the nonprofit organization. Top Washington strategists and aides to former President George W. Bush are guiding the initiative.

The campaign, dubbed Americans for Carbon Dividends, aims to bolster a carbon tax-and-dividend plan advanced by prominent Republicans a year ago, using more aggressive lobbying and advertising to line up support.

The initiative will be run by two former senators: Democrat John Breaux and Republican Trent Lott, who was the Senate majority leader for more than four years. Top political consultants and strategists, including White House veterans Mark McKinnon, Karen Hughes and Joe Lockhart, are advising the campaign.

Two former Federal Reserve chairmen, Janet Yellen and Ben Bernanke, also are signing on as members of the Climate Leadership Council, the not-for-profit advocacy group that developed the underlying carbon tax-and-dividend plan.

The new group represents the most serious effort in years to influence the U.S. debate over climate policy and appeal to Republicans who have opposed putting a price on the carbon dioxide emissions that drive global warming.

Trump said he opposed taxing greenhouse gas emissions while campaigning for the White House. And the Republican-led House approved a resolution condemning the very idea in June 2016. Still, it aligns with the desires of some oil companies that favor a carbon fee as a predictable way to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

It also dovetails with Exelon’s policy priorities. As the nation’s largest generator of carbon-free nuclear power, the company stands to benefit from policies encouraging low- and no-emission energy. Exelon was one of the members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, the last big broad corporate push for legislation capping carbon dioxide emissions.

"Our customers want action," said Kathleen Barron, Exelon’s senior vice president of federal regulatory affairs and wholesale market policy. The carbon tax campaign presents an enticing legislative solution to an issue that has gridlocked on Capitol Hill, Barron said.

The political group is organized under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, freeing it to run paid advertising, lobby policy makers and conduct aggressive social and digital campaigns with the aim of building support for the carbon tax plan. The group does not plan to be active in this November’s elections but organizers envision doing so in 2020.

The proposed carbon tax aims to increase the cost of energy derived from oil, natural gas and coal, thereby discouraging the use of those fossil fuels and encouraging the free market to develop low-carbon power alternatives.

Under the Climate Leadership Council’s blueprint, every ton of carbon dioxide would be hit with a $40 tax, with the price rising over time and revenue redistributed to households in the form of quarterly dividend checks. In exchange, regulations aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions -- and much of the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate them -- would be eliminated.

Companies that emit greenhouse gas emissions also could win liability protection, helping to insulate them from mounting lawsuits over the costs of climate change.

Products imported from countries that don’t have similar plans would face border adjustments to increase their price -- levies intended to protect American competitiveness and encourage other nations to follow the U.S. lead.

Squads of top political consultants and operatives are pushing the plan. Dewey Square Group has been tapped to run grassroots political operations, and Hill+Knowlton Strategies will spearhead public relations. Breaux and Lott, with Squire Patton Boggs, are the campaign’s top lobbyists.

Bush Connections

The campaign has enlisted former Bush aides as senior advisers, including political strategist McKinnon and the former president’s onetime counselor, Hughes, now a worldwide vice chair at Burson-Marsteller LLC. Lockhart, who served as White House press secretary for President Bill Clinton, also has joined as a senior adviser. Veteran Republican fundraiser Margaret Lauderback will seek more underwriters.

Supporters tout the proposal as a market-based approach to combat climate change that would replace an onerous, unpredictable regulatory regime -- and could drive even more robust carbon dioxide reductions. Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA publicly backed the plan last June, joining consumer products companies and General Motors Co.

Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, which operates Bloomberg News, is an individual founding member of the Climate Leadership Council but neither he nor Bloomberg Philanthropies has provided any funding to the organization.

Republican ‘Rich Kids’

Critics say the proposed tax would punish users of natural gas, oil and coal that make up the vast majority of the energy consumed in the U.S. today.

"Nothing would slam the brakes on this economy faster than a carbon tax," said Dan Eberhart, the chief executive officer of Canary LLC, a Colorado-based drilling-services company. "We need affordable and reliable energy, and the tax structure is already set up to penalize oil and gas and promote renewable energy."

Mike McKenna, a Republican energy strategist, said "this effort to tax energy will make people poorer, diminish the nation and have no material effect on the purported problem."

"But," he added, "the rich kids who used to run the Republican Party don’t really care about that."

Exelon’s involvement is striking because in other major carbon policy fights, it has been at odds with oil companies that favor the carbon tax plan. For instance, Exelon has lobbied for state subsidies for nuclear power. And because those subsidies could disadvantage natural gas, the American Petroleum Institute has opposed them.

The effort comes as energy companies face mounting litigation risks over climate change, with lawsuits from California, Colorado and New York City.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Washington at jdlouhy1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, John Harney

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