Climate Agreement
Dear Editor: I am saddened by the White House’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. It’s time for Congress to step up with climate solutions. There are Republican senators who’ve led the charge in the past and appear ready to take the lead again. There is also growing bi-partisan support in the House of Representatives. Please consider the following excerpts from this op-ed from CCL Executive Director Mark Reynolds.
Support is growing within conservative circles for a simple, market-based approach to reducing carbon pollution. … It’s called carbon fee and dividend and it works like this: Apply a fee to fuels based on the amount of carbon dioxide they will emit when burned. Increase the fee over time, thereby creating the price signal to transition to cleaner sources and uses of energy and to increase energy efficiency. To shield families from the economic impact of rising energy costs, return all the revenue from the carbon fee to every household as equal shares. To maintain our lead apply an adjustment fee on imports coming from nations that do not have an equivalent carbon price.
Earlier this year, a similar policy was proposed by a group of conservatives under the Climate Leadership Council. The authors included former Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, as well as former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson – pretty good company for any Republican.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and John McCain of Arizona ... cast the deciding votes that prevented the repeal…of a measure of the Obama administration... to limit the amount of methane released during oil and gas operations on federal land…In 2009, Lindsey Graham collaborated with then senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman to draft a Senate version of the cap and trade bill. …Susan Collins worked with Washington State Democrat Maria Cantwell to introduce the Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal (CLEAR) Act in December 2009. …And John McCain… teamed up with Lieberman to introduce the Climate Stewardship Act in 2003… his bill was defeated…he tried once more in 2007.
With Trumps announcement to withdraw from the Paris accord, it’s time for them to reassert their leadership on this issue by introducing and fighting for a revenue-neutral fee on carbon.
Libby Stortz,
Sitka Citizen’s Climate Lobby
