By SEAN CARNEY Europe's flagship effort to limit greenhouse-gas
emissions faces an existential threat as the price of emissions
has fallen dramatically, eroding an incentive for industries to
pollute less and forcing policy makers to weigh environmental
priorities against economic concerns. With the cost of emitting
carbon dioxide often around 5 euros ($6.70) a ton -- a third of
what it was 18 months ago -- utilities in the Czech Republic,
Germany and Poland are reconsidering plans to phase out coal-
fired plants. On Tuesday, the environment committee of the
European Parliament is set to vote on a proposal that would
allow the European Union to delay the release of 900 million
emissions allowances to the market by about five years in an
effort to keep the price of permits from falling further, and
eventually push it up. The faltering of the market -- known as
the EU Emissions Trading System, or ETS, which like cap and
trade programs creates a cost to pollute and rewards low
emissions -- is calling into questio