SCIENCE CLEARLY shows that urgent action is needed to reduce human-produced greenhouse gases that are heating Earth's atmosphere.

Record high temperatures are melting glaciers and polar ice, thawing permafrost, warming oceans and increasing extreme weather.

Carbon dioxide being absorbed by oceans is causing ocean acidification that will severely harm ocean ecosystems and the entire marine food web. Warming oceans and acidification will cause the death of coral reefs that sustain the majority of ocean life.

Columnist Thomas Sowell's clever collage of distortions discrediting science, "Change in Earth's temperate is not at all new," (Times, April 2) ignores the reality that human-caused heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen sharply to 391 parts per million (ppm), far above the highest carbon dioxide level of 300 ppm over the past 650,000 years.

Sowell's article is "not at all new" oil industry propaganda designed to cast doubt on science and dismantle and defeat climate legislation so the oil industry can maintain its dominance in the global economy.

The, "Carbon Fees and Dividend Act," is climate and energy legislation that would fulfill the urgent need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by gradually raising the price of fossil fuels with refundable carbon fees so clean alternative energy would become less expensive and a better investment than carbon-based energy.

The free-market mechanisms of the legislation provide incentives for conserving energy and investing in the new generation of alternative energy technology, low- and no-emission vehicles and energy efficient appliances.

The Waxman/Markey, "American Clean Energy and Security Act," that passed in the House, will not adequately reduce emissions because it uses complicated "cap and trade" mechanisms that allow companies to buy carbon credits through 2050 rather than reduce emissions and provides credits for carbon offsets that are not verifiable and lead to gaming and fraud.

The Carbon Fees and Dividend Act would establish fees on carbon at refineries, coal mines and natural gas wells or anywhere carbon first enters the economy. The fees would gradually increase over 10 years until the price of alternative energy becomes less expensive than carbon-based energy.

The Internal Revenue Service would collect the fees and the total amount collected would be refunded as dividends to all American citizens and legal residents. The payments would be the same for everyone 18 and older. A maximum of two family members under 18 years of age per household would each receive one-half the amount paid to those over 18.

The equal payment amounts would reward conservation because people who make smart energy saving choices and investments would have extra income for non-energy uses. The dividend payments would compensate for higher energy-related cost of products and keep energy prices affordable so the economy would not be disrupted.

The United States is currently emitting approximately 6.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. The carbon fees would start at $15 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions and increase $10 per year to $115 per ton. If emissions were reduced by a third during those 10 years, the fees collected would increase from $195 billion per year to $460 billion. With a U.S. population of 309 million, the dividend payments for everyone 18 and older would increase over 10 years from $362 to $1,844 per year and for those 17 and younger from $181 to $922.

The Department of Energy would establish equivalent refundable fees for other greenhouse gases including methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride and hydrofluorocarbons.

All of the fees collected would be combined for distribution in a, "Dividend Trust Fund."

Fossil-fuel subsidies would be phased out over five years and new coal-fired power plants would not be permitted because of planned obsolescence.

To assure equity in international trade, the Department of Commerce would establish Carbon-Fee-Equivalent Tariffs for goods entering the U.S. from countries without carbon fee pricing and Carbon-Fee-Equivalent Rebates to reduce the price of U.S. exports so they remain competitive.

Carbon pricing between countries provides economic benefits to all countries and would be more effective at reducing emissions than the "cap and trade" mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. The United States should seek carbon-pricing treaties with China, Brazil and India as well as with the United Nations as the basis for the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Times article, "Antioch begins tackling air pollution," (March 30) illustrates how communities throughout California and the United States are planning ways to, "reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change."

The Carbon Fees and Dividends Act would bring America together in becoming energy independent, building a sustainable clean-energy economy and creating a healthy global environment.

 

Mark Altgelt is a resident of Vallejo.