Coalition Led By Stark Introduces Carbon Tax Climate Legislation
Four years ago, presidential candidate Barack Obama promised strong and swift action to deal with climate change. Then, he was elected President, with commanding Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, and with that power, Obama offered weak climate legislation and eventually abandoned even that.
This week, the ClimateGate hoax unraveled, as even strong skeptics of global warming were forced to admit that extremely unusual global warming is really taking place. People are dying in events related to climate change. Property is being destroyed. Climate change isn’t a problem for the future. It’s here now.
Unable to wait any longer for President Obama to show the kind of initiative our current environmental crisis calls for, Peter Stark has introduced H.R. 3242, the Save Our Climate Act, this week.
The legislation wouldn’t play around with weak cap and trade methods. It would impose a carbon tax on corporations that aren’t moving to clean energy sources.
Lobbyists for polluting corporations argue that a carbon tax would be bad for the economy. More honestly observant Americans have noticed that the economy is in rotten shape – without a carbon tax. Clearly, the avoidance of a carbon tax hasn’t been a successful economic strategy.
Representative Stark, in his introduction to the Save Our Climate Act, explained why: Uncontrolled climate change is a major economic drag. “Our continued addiction to burning fossil fuels not only accelerates climate change it is also a drag on our economy. We need a policy that discourages the use of fossil fuels and promotes investment in efficiency and alternative energy sources. The simplest solution is a carbon tax,” Stark said. “A steadily rising carbon tax will provide the certainty American businesses needs to make the long-term investments in new energy sources that will break our addiction to fossil fuels. The United States can be the leader in green energy. A carbon tax will help to unleash American innovation and create jobs. That is why economists across the ideological spectrum—from Arthur Laffer and Alan Blinder on the right, to Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitz on the left—have endorsed the idea. Through border adjustments, my legislation will protect American manufacturers and ensure that imported goods from countries like China are not given an unfair advantage over American products.”
Stark also explained that the Save Our Carbon Act will actually produce economic dividends for individual American citizens. “At a time of deep budget cuts meant to reduce the deficit, a carbon tax can be part of the deficit solution. My legislation will dedicate $437 billion toward deficit reduction over 10 years. In addition, the Save Our Climate Act will protect families from increased energy prices. Revenue generated will be distributed back to individuals as a yearly dividend to all Americans. The average dividend in the first year of the bill would be $172 per person, rising to $761 in the fifth year and $1126 in the tenth year.”
We can see what’s happening. It’s obvious to even my 3 year old Granddaughter and she doesn’t have the decades of memories to fall back on. But she can smell when the power plant burns bituminous coal and tells me it stinks. Just like the politics that’s promoting it and the energy companies who lobby for it.
Thanks to Congressman Stark for taking this bold step, especially in the era of the political tax terrorist Grover Norquist. It all seems to be up to whether Obama has the stomach to make climate a campaign issue.
Kudos to Congressman Stark. Such legislation is long overdue in the United States. Americans are misinformed regarding the seriousness of climate change, due largely to a fossil fuel-funded misinformation campaign. We are leading the world to hell and high water, just when we should be doing the opposite. Go to http://www.facebook.com/climateaddress to ‘like’ the idea of President Obama speaking out to Americans. Obama has the power to explain climate change in less than an hour!