From the Chesapeake Climate Action Network: Mike Tidwell, Executive Director

Compiled and edited by Ted Glick, CCAN National Campaign Coordinator

August 29, 2013

In This Issue:

#1 Climate Wire (July 12, 2013): Prominent Dem Prepares Climate Bill

#2 Boston Globe (June 24, 2013): Environmentalists Call for a Mass. Carbon Tax

#3 Bob Inglis: Conservatives have a Climate Solution

#4 The Weekly Standard (July 8, 2013): Climate Change for the GOP; It’s time for a conservative alternative to liberal alarmism

#5 ClimateWire (July 2, 2013): Carbon tax could have no impact on the young and unborn

#6 Politico (June 21, 2013): Federal report backs carbon tax for climate goals, by Alex Guillen

#7 Realclearscience.com (July 10, 2013): How the GOP Could Win the Climate Debate

#8 Triplepundit.com (July 16, 2013): Can Republicans Take the Lead on Climate Change?

 

#1 Climate Wire (July 12, 2013): Prominent Dem Prepares Climate Bill

“Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is crafting a climate bill that would cap greenhouse gases on upstream emitters while providing payments to the U.S. public, a design that’s meant to deflate attacks about its effect on rising energy prices. The cap-and-dividend bill will be similar to a measure that Van Hollen introduced at the height of climate action in 2009, when his legislation competed with early iterations of the cap-and-trade bill proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). The bills were introduced within days of each other four years ago. ‘Most of the arguments you hear from opponents trying to address this issue is the increased cost to consumers,’ Van Hollen said yesterday. ‘This addresses that issue directly.’”
Read the full article: http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059984277

#2 Boston Globe (June 24, 2013): Environmentalists Call for a Mass. Carbon Tax

“A group of environmentalists plans to ask voters to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to adopt a so-called carbon tax by imposing new levies on gasoline, heating oil, and other fossil fuels based on the amount of carbon dioxide they produce. The group, which has registered with the state as a political committee, is launching a campaign to place the issue on the ballot for the 2014 state elections. If approved, such a tax would add several cents to the price per gallon of gas and could generate as much as $2.5 billion in revenue a year, according to an economic analysis that was done for the group, the Committee for a Green Economy. In addition to lowering income and corporate taxes, the bill would set aside $100 million annually from carbon tax revenues to fund transportation improvements, limit increases in public transit fares, or pay down transit-related debt.”
Read the full article: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/06/23/group-seeks-carbon-tax-combat-climate-change/EGvlBc9ltLUCskJPgad0fL/story.html

#3 Bob Inglis: Conservatives have a Climate Solution

“Inglis promotes the premise of a ‘100 percent revenue-neutral carbon tax.’ This tax would be paired dollar for dollar with a reduction in a pre-existing tax—thereby reducing taxes elsewhere. ‘No growth of government here,’ he stressed.’If you set the economics right, the consumer will drive innovation. That will include renewables, and we will have exciting breakthroughs.’ Inglis explained that a carbon tax would bring a realization, through comparison, that the cost of green energy is closer to the actual cost of fossil fuels. Repeatedly referencing the phrase ‘true cost comparisons between fuels,’ Inglis underscored the health related fallout from fossil fuels—impacting lives as well as the economy.”
Read the full article: http://www.momscleanairforce.org/2013/06/19/bob-inglis-conservatives-climate/

#4 The Weekly Standard (July 8, 2013): Climate Change for the GOP; It’s time for a conservative alternative to liberal alarmism
“Since carbon emissions do present a real problem, simply repealing the current regulations without replacing them would be both unwise and politically impossible. The least-intrusive and most economically beneficial way to deal with the problem appears to be a carbon tax, particularly a revenue-neutral carbon tax that could be used to offset and/or replace other taxes. As Florida State University economist Shi-Ling Hsu argues in his The Case for a Carbon Tax, such a tax would cause minimal dislocations, actually do quite a lot to reduce carbon emissions, and avoid the potentially destructive central planning implicit in almost every other solution, including the one Obama has proffered.”
Read the full article: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/climate-change-gop_738063.html

#5 ClimateWire (July 2, 2013): Carbon tax could have no impact on the young and unborn

“Carbon taxes could affect Americans differently depending on their age, with those born after 1995 generally feeling smaller economic impacts than today’s decision makers, a team of researchers found. People who are 18 years old or younger would pay about $10 a year or less under a policy that uses the revenue from a $30 carbon tax to reduce capital taxes, according to economists at Resources for the Future. Future generations would pay less than that. The tax would have no cost for those born between 2010 and 2030. Adult Americans, meanwhile, would see a range of possible impacts. People born in 1945 would pay the most under the tax swap scenario, about $40 a year, because they have less retirement income to invest and would benefit the least from cuts to capital taxes. The research shows that people born between 1950 and 1965 would come out ahead, by about $5 a year.”
Read the full article: http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059983776

#6 Politico (June 21, 2013): Federal report backs carbon tax for climate goals, by Alex Guillen

“A federal report is endorsing a carbon tax as a far better method to combat climate change than the current web of energy tax provisions. Despite spending billions of dollars on energy subsidies, the federal government’s Tax Code has done little overall to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to a National Research Council report out Thursday, which concludes that a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would be much more effective. ‘In order to meet ambitious climate-change objectives, a different approach that targets GHG emissions directly through taxes or tradable allowances will be both necessary and more efficient,’” the report concludes.
Read the full article: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/carbon-tax-proposed-for-climate-goals-93141.html#ixzz2dNF6uhWt

#7 Realclearscience.com (July 10, 2013): How the GOP Could Win the Climate Debate

“In the past year, a movement of conservatives outside of Congress has pushed a market-based solution to climate change. This conservative alternative envisions a phase-out of subsidies for all sources of energy coupled with a revenue-neutral carbon tax swap. This is exactly the kind of proposal that gives Republicans the
chance to win both in a messaging battle and on policy merits. Republicans can win this debate by making it very clear: our carbon tax will not grow government. It will not take money out of hard-working American’s pockets to pay for more federal spending. It will instead be used to cut federal taxes, and it must be revenue neutral.”
Read the full article: http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2013/07/10/a_sensible_gop_solution_to_climate_change_106589.html

#8 Triplepundit.com (July 16, 2013): Can Republicans Take the Lead on Climate Change?

“An op-ed written by a Capitol Hill staffer writing under a pseudonym suggests the GOP could tackle climate change via free market principles. The rogue GOP staffer calls for a “revenue-neutral carbon tax swap.” If structured correctly, such a carbon tax would cause a shake-out in the energy market as consumers and businesses would compete on cost and efficiency. A carbon tax would also cancel out some income taxes, the latter of which many economists deride as a drag on the economy.”
Read the full article: http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/07/republicans-lead-climate-change/

CCAN encourages readers of the Cap and Dividend Policy Update to distribute it to others who might be interested. We welcome input on the contents of this publication and ideas for what could be included.
Send to Ted Glick at ted@chesapeakeclimate.org.