Citizens Climate Lobby is eager to share this video on social media. Movie star Ian Somerhalder’s narration could create a large audience!
Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) provides an explanation of and opinion on carbon tax legislation here.
Among the resources available on this CCL site, you will find the full report prepared by Regional Economic Models, Inc.(REMI) explaining the positive economic aspects of the fee/tax and dividend program CCL is advocating. See a summary of this report here.
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Today, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Representative Earl Blumenauer, and Senator Brian Schatz released draft carbon-pricing legislation and solicited feedback on it from stakeholders and the public. The legislation would establish the polluter pays principle for dangerous carbon pollution, requiring large emitters to pay for the pollution they emit.
The “discussion draft” released today contains a new and straightforward approach to putting a price on carbon pollution. The nation’s largest polluters would have to pay a fee for each ton of pollution they release. The legislation assigns responsibility for the assessment and collection of the carbon fees based upon the expertise that has already been developed by EPA and the Treasury Department. Under the discussion draft, EPA’s database of reported emissions would determine the amount of pollution subject to the fee. The Treasury Department would be responsible for the collection and handling of the fees.
“Putting a price on carbon could help solve two of the nation’s biggest challenges at once: preventing climate change and reducing the budget deficit,” said Rep. Waxman of California. “There have been carbon tax proposals made by others. What’s unique about this one is its novel design. We are seeking to craft a system in which each agency does what they are good at and that minimizes compliance burdens and administrative costs. Utilities, oil companies, and other major sources are already reporting their emissions to EPA. We build off of this existing program.”
“Putting a price on carbon is the best way to reduce carbon pollution and slow the effects of climate change,” said Sen. Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “For far too long, carbon polluters have pushed the true cost of their pollution onto the American people in the form of dirty air, acidified water, and a changing climate. This framework is the beginning of a collaborative process to craft legislation that will reduce carbon pollution while also upholding an important principle: that all of the revenue generated through this carbon fee will be returned to the American people.”
see here for more including supporting documents
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E&E Publishing, LLC, February 12, 2014, It’s lonely in the trenches for a carbon tax, but a warrior digs in, by Evan Lehman about the Carbon Tax Center’s Charles Komanoff
NPR’s Listen to the Story, June 28, 2013: Economists Have A One-Page Solution To Climate Change, by David Kestenbaum
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Watch this short, graphic video by Climate Reality on the importance of putting a price on carbon. “Carbon pollution is not only disrupting our lives, it’s hitting our wallets. Comedian and musician Reggie Watts shows how, laying out the billion-dollar connection between fossil-fuel energy and dirty weather events like Superstorm Sandy caused by carbon pollution.”
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Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Ted Glick offers a compilation of news and opinions about legislating carbon prices.
Climate Action Alliance of the Valley 