FORUM: How to make $1,500 and get clean air

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, there is greater urgency to lower our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Our current economy appears to pit jobs against science, but nothing is further from the truth. Look closer and a truly innovative American solution surfaces. And there's $1,500 in it for each of us.

Since the industrial revolution, burning fossil fuel has created a deviously gradual crisis. CO2 has gone from about 280 parts per million to 390 ppm in roughly 150 years. Sea levels are rising as our oceans absorb much of the temperature increase and become acidic. Climate change is the likely culprit of dead zones where fish suffocate in the Pacific.

Oregon's fishermen know what lies ahead. Scripps scientists have measured dramatic decreases in fish populations in Baja California waters.

California's drought is predicted to continue, resulting in more water shortages for the long term. For humans, those who live near freeways have documented increase in asthma. We are witnessing significantly more heat related deaths. Diseases that once spread only near the equator are traveling north. Scientists tell us we need to get back to 350 ppm of CO2 for a sustainable planet.

Our military is acutely aware of climate and energy related security issues.

Instability in Somalia and Darfur is exacerbated by the need for arable land.

The most dangerous job for our soldiers in the Middle East is the transport of fuel and water. Worse yet, the beneficiaries of our energy dependence are terrorists. Camp Pendleton and other military bases are now becoming leaders in the charge to renewable energy.

In the name of jobs, Valero Oil of Texas is flexing its muscle with a $500,000 campaign contribution to undermine clean air regulations in California. Texas oil cares about California jobs? And there is oceanfront property in Arizona.

Emotional and delusional excuses to avoid solving the climate crisis expose short-term thinking from special interests with a big stake in the status quo.

Current dirty fuels' prices do not include the costs of asthma, droughts and fires which result from the degraded environment. The new jobs of the clean-energy economy are just out of reach because we've yet to put a predictable price on fossil fuels that makes green tech competitive.

The highest rates of joblessness are for Americans in their 20s. Those Millennials are not interested in dead-end dirty fuel jobs, nor do they think it is fair for Valero and others to pollute at their expense. A forward thinking plan is needed.

Current legislative attempts are coming up short. Cap and trade opens the door for speculative gambling where many permits are given away, but CO2 reductions are negligible.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., proposed a cap-and-dividend approach that is a step in the right direction but does not lower CO2 enough nor would it set predictable energy prices for new business investments. We need a solution that is a match for the science. Half way will not cut it.

Let's take special interests out of the negotiations. If we turn instead to scientists and economists to craft a solution ---- as Citizens Climate Lobby did ---- a solution emerges that works for the climate and the American people: The Carbon Fee and Dividend Act of 2010. It charges a fee for CO2 at the refinery, mine or port of entry. All proceeds go back to citizens. This will spur the economy with cash and, more importantly, set a predictable price on fuel so businesses can invest with confidence in new clean energy technologies, creating more jobs here.

That $1,500 mentioned earlier? The math works like this: The U.S. generates 6 billion tons of CO2 each year. The proposed fee starts at $15 per ton of CO2. Add $10 per ton to the fee each year. In 10 years, the fee becomes $115 per ton. Emissions will drop (due to the fee) to an estimated 4 billion tons of CO2 a year. Multiply 4 billion times $115, and you raise $460 billion.

That $460 billion divided by 300 million people yields a per-capita dividend of $1,500.

This proposal begs for Washington's attention. It is simple, transparent and two pages long. If citizens make their voices heard above the fossil fuel lobby, we can all make $1,500 and get clean air.

AMY HOYT BENNETT of Encinitas is with the Citizens Climate Lobby.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_bddfb3c2-743a-50dc-b892-d71339d43bc9.html