A Simple Carbon Fee for the Benefit of All

April 28, 2010 – Vol.15 No.6

A SIMPLE CARBON FEE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL.
by Bruce Mulliken, Green Energy News

Of developed countries, Australia is the third highest per capita emitter of carbon dioxide. The nation follows the US in second place, tiny Luxembourg in first. Despite its huge, sun washed, sparsely populated Outback, which could probably solar energize the country many times over, Australia relies on dirty coal for most of its electricity.

When running for office in 2007, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised to make climate change a priority. He had hoped to make a cap-and-trade system, known as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), law by now and in effect by 2011. CPRS was supposed to cut Australia's carbon emissions by up to 25% from 2000 levels by 2020.

His proposal went flat twice in the Australian Senate. Now Rudd wants to shelve CPRS until 2013 at the earliest. His party does not have a majority in the Senate, and forces opposing climate change legislation have succeeded in reducing public support for government action. Rudd is also up for reelection this year. For him, it’s not a good time to push a now unpopular issue.

For Australia, maybe it’s a good time to rethink cap-and-trade.

In the US, the only Republican in the Senate working with majority Democrats on climate legislation has been Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina. Now he’s quit climate and energy negotiations over a spat with Democrats on immigration policy. It’s an election year, and immigration is the current hot button issue. Climate change is not, despite the freaky weather.

Graham was a supporter of cap-and-trade. He’s not up for reelection this year but is facing discontent at home for his willingness to compromise with Democrats on a number of issues.

For the US maybe it’s a good time to rethink cap-and-trade. Graham’s sudden departure on climate could be a blessing in disguise.

The US, probably Australia too, needs climate action that is simple, straightforward and offers a clear, direct, obvious benefit to the people – such as a check in the mail.

Dr. James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS), speaking as a private citizen on Earth Day, called on the public and lawmakers to reject the "smoke and mirrors" of energy bills now before Congress, which rely on "cap-and-trade" and "offsets." "We need a bill designed for the public, not for big banks and fossil-fuel companies."

Investment bankers would handle and profit from emissions trading under a cap-and-trade scheme.

Hansen has a proposal that calls for a "simple, honest" carbon fee, collected from fossil-fuel companies upon the first sale at the mine, well head or port of entry. The money collected via this fee would be distributed to the public as a monthly "dividend" or "green check," he said.

Distributing all of the revenue equitably to households will ensure that families can afford the energy they need during the transition to a clean energy future, and it should help win public support for a rising carbon fee, says a press release from the Carbon Tax Center.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would likely distribute “green checks” to the public.

The Carbon Tax Center says, “We live in a “false economy” of cheap fossil fuels whose prices don’t reflect their true costs to society, the environment and future generations.”

“As long as coal is so cheap that low-carbon energy can’t compete, we will not make the transition to a clean-energy future,” Dr. Hansen said. Green Checks would help pay for green energy.

The Carbon Fee would make fossil energy more expensive, but the Green Checks dividend would soften the impact of the fees and give consumers the freedom to spend it as they wish, hopefully on competitive carbon-free energy.

Dr. Hansen’s proposal was produced after months of discussion with religious leaders, the Carbon Tax Center, Citizens Climate Lobby and the Price Carbon Campaign. It incorporates key elements of bills proposed by Congressmen John Larson (Democrat from Connecticut) and Bob Inglis (Republican from South Carolina), whom Dr. Hansen calls on to join forces for the benefit of the American people in building an effective, bipartisan “Climate Stewardship Act.”

Dr. Hansen testified before a Congressional committee in 1988 regarding his research in the possibility of human-induced global warming. His testimony was not well received and he didn’t return to the halls of Congress for a decade.

Links:

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS)
http://www.giss.nasa.gov

Carbon Tax Center
http://www.carbontax.org

Citizens Climate Lobby
http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org

Price Carbon Campaign
http://www.pricecarbon.org

--- Cutting Carbon ... by Law.

--- Take the ACT Instead.