A climate bill that's good for the Earth and a good deal for the American people

By Steve Valk 

While it looks like the climate and energy bill from senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman won’t be released until mid-April at the earliest, Citizens Climate Lobby has a bill ready to go – The Carbon Fee and Dividend Act. Funny how quickly things can move when you’re not trying to get the blessing of the American Petroleum Institute. 

Let’s face it: Any legislation that makes the fossil fuel industry happy probably won’t reduce carbon-dioxide to levels that are safe and sustainable. That’s why we didn’t ask the barons of carbon-based energy for input on our proposal. Instead, we turned to scientists like Dr. James Hansen for advice on the maximum safe level of CO2 our atmosphere should hold and how to go about reducing CO2 to that level. 

His answers, laid out clearly and convincingly in his new book, “Storms of My Grandchildren,” are as follows: 

• We have to reduce CO2 levels from the current 389 parts per million to 350 ppm.
• To achieve this, we must stop burning fossil fuels, transitioning as quickly as possible to clean energy by placing a predictable and steadily-increasing fee on carbon. 

The experts inside the Washington Beltway will tell us that we’re being naïve and unrealistic to write legislation without cutting deals with the powerful fossil fuel lobby. They have obscene amounts of money to pour into public relations and political campaigns – not to mention a Supreme Court decision that allows them to break any member of Congress who goes against them. For decades they’ve funded think tanks that confuse the public about the science of climate change. Those experts will tell us we’re playing the part of Don Quixote tilting at electricity-generating wind mills and that no politician wants the thankless task of playing Sancho. 

What gives us the gall to think we can defy such a powerful lobby? 

Simply put, we wrote a bill that’s a good deal for the Earth and a good deal for the American people. 

A good deal for the American people? If folks have to pay more for energy, how is that a good deal? 

Actually, it’s a great deal, because we’re giving everybody the money that’s generated from the carbon fee. The revenue would be distributed equally to all households in the form of a monthly carbon dividend – hence the name Carbon Fee and Dividend Act. Those who make smart choices and investments in energy use will end up keeping more of the dividend than they will pay for increased energy costs. 

Just how much money are we talking about? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Let’s do some basic math. 

The fee, starting at $15 for each ton of CO2 generated by a particular fuel, would increase $10 each year. In ten years, when the fee has made clean energy cheaper than coal, the assessment will be $115 a ton. Assuming that CO2 emissions will be reduced by a third at this point, four billion tons of CO2 will be assessed the fee that year, generating $460 billion. Divide that by 300 million residents and you have a per-capita payout of about $1,500 a year. A family of four would get $6,000. 

Any politician who can’t build support for a $6,000 rebate is a pretty poor salesman. 

We’ve put together a proposal that is simple, transparent and effective. It’s based on legislation that has been introduced from both sides of the aisle -- Rep. John Larson’s (D-CT) America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act (H.R. 1337), and Rep. Bob Inglis’ (R-SC) Raise Wages Cut Carbon Act (H.R. 2380). 

In addition to putting a predictable price on carbon and returning revenue to all households, the Carbon Fee and Dividend Act would also: 

• Call for a halt to the permitting and construction of coal-fired power plants.
• Place a fee on imports from countries that don’t have similar pricing mechanisms.
• Phase out subsidies on all fossil fuels within five years.
• Ensure that clean energy becomes competitive with fossil fuels within ten years. 

In short, we wrote a bill we believe is a match for the science. 

Now we have to create the political will to pass this legislation. It’s an uphill task, for sure, and our volunteers are already talking to their members of Congress to solicit their support. 

We need your help, too. Take a look at our bill, and if you believe, as we do, that this is the most promising solution to the climate crisis, take action. Write to us (ccl@citizensclimatelobby.org) or give us a call us (619-437-7142), and we’ll give you the training and support you need to be an effective lobbyist for the Earth and our grandchildren’s future. 

At this very moment, politicians are cutting deals with each other and with corporate America that will doom any effort on climate mitigation to failure. As we’ve already seen from retreating glaciers, the Earth’s climate is not in a deal-making mood. Washington needs to hear this message. If we can enact this legislation, we won’t be tilting at windmills. We’ll be building them.