Thank you for publishing some good climate news (“Carbon pollution is down in the US”, Jan. 10). But as the headline further noted, the 2% drop in 2023 is “not fast enough to meet Biden’s 2030 goal.”
The article reported that although coal burning decreased, oil and gas production and transportation increased, and seem to be continuing to do so; and that climate targets will only be met with a tripling of the 2023 rate of decline in emissions. So now what?
Economists agree on few things, but one near-consensus view among top economists is that attaching a pollution fee to the price of carbon fuels will supply the necessary economic incentive to shift our economy away from CO2-emitting fuels to green renewables, and thus reduce carbon emissions sufficiently to avoid a catastrophic future.
The U.S. House of Representatives has before it a bill (The Energy Innovation Act) that would attach pollution fees to fossil fuels and direct the Treasury to collect and disburse those fees to American households on an equal per capita basis with monthly dividend checks. This “cash-back carbon pricing” is a win for the climate as well as for the people trying to live in it.
Maine’s U.S. Reps. Golden and Pingree have an opportunity to help make it happen. Let’s hope they take it!
Cynthia Stancioff
Camden
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.