Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- PG&E Corp., the owner of California’s largest utility, is leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the business group’s opposition to federal climate change legislation.

The company won’t renew its membership because of “fundamental differences” with the chamber’s approach toward efforts to curb global warming, Peter Darbee, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based PG&E, said in a letter to chamber CEO Tom Donohue. The Sept. 18 letter was disclosed today on a company blog.

“Extreme rhetoric and obstructionist tactics seem to increasingly mark the chamber’s public stance on this issue,” Darbee wrote. “These reflect neither the true range of views among members nor, in many cases, an honest view of the economic and environmental realities at hand.”

The Washington-based chamber, which calls itself the world’s largest business federation, asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month to release data on the science supporting climate-change regulations.

William Kovacs, senior vice president for the group, was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying the inquiry would be the equivalent of the Scopes trial between supporters of evolution and creationism.

Eric Wohlschegel, a spokesman for the chamber, said that comment was taken out of context.

Chamber’s Comment

“We have more than 3 million members and we don’t comment on the comings and goings of members,” Wohlschlegel said when asked about PG&E’s departure in a telephone interview.

PG&E is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a group that supports federal action on climate change.

“Frankly, we are well-positioned vis-à-vis the carbon question,” Darbee said today in a Webcast of an investors conference in New York. “We emit 6 percent of the carbon of the average utility in the United States. If you look at our own plus contracted-for power, we emit 50 percent of the carbon of the average utility in the United States.”

The company has been a member of the chamber for “about the last three years,” said Bryan Hertzog, director of corporate relations. Hertzog said PG&E has allowed its membership to lapse in the past when it wasn’t “terribly active or focused at the federal level.”

Duke Energy Corp., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said this year it wouldn’t renew its membership in the National Association of Manufacturers because of differences with that business organization over climate policy.

Duke Energy also joined with Alstom SA in giving up membership in the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy, a group that supports the use of coal for power.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tina Seeley in Washington at tseeley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 22, 2009 17:50 EDT