Showing posts with label Carbon Tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carbon Tax. Show all posts

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Landmark Bipartisan Carbon Fee Legislation Introduced


Washington, D.C. - November 29, 2018 - (The Ponder News) -- Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL-22), Congressman Francis Rooney (R-FL-19), Congressman John K. Delaney (D-MD-06), Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-08), and Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) introduced bipartisan legislation to price carbon and return 100% of the net revenue as a rebate to American families.

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA) will help reduce U.S. carbon pollution by 40% in 12 years, with 91% reduction target by 2050 (vs. 2015 levels). This would be achieved by pricing carbon at $15 per metric ton of CO2e and increasing the price by $10 every year. The Treasury Department would return 100% of the net revenue back to the American people, a policy highlighted by a Treasury Department report as helping lower- and middle-income families.

A one-pager on the legislation can be found here, and the text of the legislation can be found here.

A wide range of groups support the legislation, including: Citizens Climate Lobby, Climate Leadership Council, The Nature Conservancy, Alliance for Market Solutions, RepublicEn, Conservation Hawks, National Wildlife Federation, National Audobon Society, Conserve America, World Resources Institute, and Applied Ecology for Tropical Resources Program Inc. - ECOTROPICS.

"This aggressive carbon pricing scheme introduced by members from both parties marks an important opportunity to begin to seriously address the immediate threat of climate change," said Congressman Deutch. "The status quo is unsustainable; the time to act is right now."

“To let the free market price out coal we should consider value pricing carbon," Congressman Rooney said. "A revenue-neutral carbon fee is an efficient, market- driven incentive to move toward natural gas and away from coal, and to support emerging alternate sources of energy.”

“If we’re ever going to really mitigate climate change and prevent this looming catastrophe, it’s going to be with legislation like this – a big solution with bipartisan support. Incentives really matter and a carbon tax creates powerful market incentives in the private sector to reduce emissions in the short term and develop alternative energy sources in the long term. This is why I’ve authored my own carbon tax legislation and am proud to cosponsor this bill. The stakes are too high for us not to act and too high for us to be afraid to implement the solutions we know we need. This legislation is a blueprint for how we can combat climate change and bring people together around innovative policy solutions,” said Congressman Delaney.

“Since my first day in Congress, I have committed to finding solutions that mitigate the effects of climate change," Congressman Fitzpatrick said. "We must take a bipartisan, market-driven approach to reduce carbon emissions, which are contributing to atmospheric change, rising sea levels, and more intense natural disasters. I am confident that bipartisan efforts to preserve our environment and protect our way of life for future generations will ultimately succeed.”

"Since organizing Florida's first national climate change summit more than 10 years ago, it’s clear that reducing our carbon dependency is the key to winning this fight. The devastating findings released in last week's report show that the clock is ticking and continued inaction would be catastrophic – for our environment, our economy, and peoples’ health," said Congressman Crist. "We are taking an historic step with introduction of this bipartisan legislation; Congress must act with the urgency this crisis demands."

"This policy has the enthusiastic support of Citizens’ Climate Lobby and our more than 100,000 supporters across the country," said Danny Richter, CCL's VP for Government Affairs. "Those supporters are everyday Americans who are concerned about climate change and want to see Congress work together on a bipartisan solution like this one. We will continue working in districts across America to build support for this policy in this Congress and the next."

"The introduction of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act provides a clear proof of concept that a conservative-inspired carbon dividends framework can attract bipartisan support," Climate Leadership Council Chairman and CEO Ted Halstead said. "It is no coincidence that the first bipartisan climate bill in nearly a decade is based on carbon dividends. A carbon dividends plan that returns all revenues to the American people is uniquely capable of appealing to all sides of the climate debate.”

“This is an ambitious, bipartisan proposal that will help kickstart an essential debate over America’s response to climate change – a debate made all the more urgent by the stark findings of the National Climate Assessment,” said C2ES President Bob Perciasepe. “We and many companies we work with believe strongly that a price on carbon is a critical element of any comprehensive effort to decarbonize the U.S. economy. C2ES applauds Reps. Deutch, Crist, Delaney, Fitzpatrick, and Rooney for their leadership on this vital issue.”

An independent report from Columbia University's Carbon Tax Research Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy compared carbon fee proposals and found that the EICDA "would lead to larger emissions reductions, carbon tax revenues and impacts on energy markets by the late 2020s compared to the other carbon tax proposals," "would likely cause emissions to fall below the targets the plan lays out through at least 2030," "would rapidly decarbonize the US power sector," and "low- and middle-income households would receive more in rebates than they pay in taxes."

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Veterans, Carbon Tax, Organ Harvesting, Printing, Shooting

On June 7, 2016, Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN, 1st) introduced the Ethical Patient Care for Veterans Act, legislation to require clinicians practicing at the VA to report directly to state licensing boards whenever they witness unacceptable behavior from other VA clinicians. Currently, it takes at least 100 days for the VA to decide whether or not a complaint of substandard health care practices reported to the VA should be referred to the state licensing board.

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The Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016, passed the House of Representatives on June 8, 2016. This legislation would extend the implementation deadlines for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) costly ozone standards. Studies by the EPA have shown ozone levels have dramatically declined since 1980.

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H.Res. 343, Expressing concern regarding persistent and credible reports of systematic, state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting prisoners of conscience in the People's Republic of China, including from large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups – passed by voice vote, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Congressman Steve Russell’s (OK-5) amendment, also known as Federal Register Printing Savings Act, was adopted in the House by a voice vote, and was included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act which was passed Friday morning. Russell’s amendment curtails the printing and distribution of unnecessary copies of the Federal Register that is distributed to each Congressional and House Committee office daily. Since the Federal Register is available online, any office that needs the information can find it digitally; therefore, almost all of the printed copies are discarded. Of course, if a member of Congress, or other federal official, wishes to receive the printed copies of the Federal Register they may still register to do so. The annual savings of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars could then be put to better use.

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About the Orlando Shooting: (for those who want to make the issue about guns) I think a gun that can shoot one bullet to kill one human being is just as dangerous in the wrong hands as one that can shoot 700 rounds. I also believe that if anyone takes away my right to own either is putting me into danger when face to face with a criminal who obtained his weapon illegally. Whether he got the weapon legal or not, not having the option of owning a gun with the same firepower diminishes my ability to defend myself.

And, if you think you are going to make such weapons disappear completely so they can't be obtained illegally, you are dreaming.