Thirty-four members of Congress, with Republican Carlos Curbelo taking the lead, have formed the Climate Solutions Caucus, which looks to solve the climate crisis by invoking a carbon fee, a solution also being advocated by the Citizens Climate Lobby. Fossil fuels would be taxed at the source — oil wells, coal mines, natural gas fields — making the price we pay for carbon fuels and goods produced using carbon fuels more in line with their true costs.
A carbon fee and dividend is a revenue-neutral carbon tax with 100 percent of the fees collected, minus administrative fees returned directly to households as a dividend. For a majority of Americans, their dividend will exceed their increased costs for gas and heating oil. People will be rewarded for making wise energy choices, and factories and other businesses will have economic incentives for powering their plants with fuels that don’t produce greenhouse gasses.
If climate change continues Arizona stands to lose big on our quality of life and our economy, it is time to take serious action. Senators McCain and Flake and Representative O’Halleran, it is time to take a stand and become part of the solution.