Conservative thought leaders such as George Schultz, who served in the Nixon and Reagan cabinets, and Gregory Mankiw, economic adviser under George W. Bush, among others, must be very frustrated with some of the current PAC-funded attack ads on climate policy in Maine political campaigns.

These leaders argue that not only do we need a rational climate policy, such as a carbon tax with revenue rebated to residents either directly or via lower rates on other taxes, but also that those polices can be designed around core conservative values.

Getting those ideas into policy requires reasonable discussions among candidates, but recent attack ads make useful conversations difficult, if not impossible.

It is incorrect to suggest, as the ads do, that any policy response to the risks posed by climate change would be too costly to even consider.

The many climate pricing polices now in use around the globe have shown that properly designed policies actually can benefit the economy while securing large reductions in climate altering emissions.

Our own Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has used RGGI-financed programs by Efficiency Maine to save businesses and homeowners millions of dollars in energy costs and boosted the economy while reducing emissions.

Since 2008, British Columbia has had a carbon tax, with the revenue used to lower other taxes. The province has the lowest personal income tax rate in Canada and one of the lowest corporate rates in North America. Fuel use in British Columbia has dropped by 16 percent, compared to a 3 percent rise in the rest of Canada, but the province’s GDP has slightly outperformed the rest of Canada’s.

It is time to stop attacks based on disinformation and start discussions about the best policy paths to take. Common ground can be exploited if it is not ruled out a priori.

Tom Tietenberg

Waterville