The time is NOW (until 7:00 pm Thursday) to support Clean Energy Legislation
Tom Wilson
The following Op Ed was printed in the La Crosse Tribune and Vernon County Times
Please share widely and vote
between now and 7:00 pm on Thursday
The time is now to support Clean Energy Legislation
Global climate change is real and a serious threat to Wisconsin and our planet, affecting farming, winter sports, our health, wildlife, forests, and the economy.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act HR 2307 was recently introduced into the House of Representatives and already has 28 cosponsors. This bill requires energy companies to pay a steadily-rising fee on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. This will drive down carbon pollution and stimulate conservation, technological innovation, clean energy, jobs, and economic growth because energy companies, leading industries, and American consumers would move toward cleaner, cheaper options.
Almost certainly, the energy companies will try to pass these fees on to consumers in the form of higher energy costs. Under this plan, called “carbon fee and dividend,” the fees collected on carbon emissions are to be directly distributed to all American households to spend any way they choose. Equal payments of funds will assure the longevity of the measure just like social security and will protect our most vulnerable with most Americans receiving more in dividends than their increased energy costs. Fuel used on farms and by the military would be exempt from fees. To protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs and encourage other nations to adopt similar policies, importers of goods would pay a border carbon adjustment and exporters from the United States would receive a refund under this policy.
Over 3,555 American economists, four former Federal Reserve chairs, 27 Nobel Laureate economists, 15 former chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers and two former Secretaries of the Treasury agree that carbon fees are “...the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary.”
This model of carbon fees and dividends (CF&D) is supported by Trout Unlimited, Protect Our Winters, the National Ski Areas Association, U.W. Stevens Point, nine county and municipal governments, three major newspapers and over 135 Wisconsin organizations, sporting groups and businesses. Organizations and individuals as diverse as Bernie Sanders, the US Chamber of Commerce, The American Petroleum Institute, Janet Yellen, Bill McKibben, the Business Roundtable and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change all support CF&D.
All Wisconsin residents can voice their support for this most-promising piece of national legislation at the upcoming Wisconsin Conservation Congress and DNR annual Spring Hearings providing an important element in combatting the challenges of our climate crises. Online input on all proposed natural resources rule changes and advisory questions can be made here: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/wcc/springhearing They can vote any time from 7 p.m. on Monday, April 12, until 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 15 (72 hours). All questions are available to preview at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/newsroom/release/41551
There are separate polls on issues related to fisheries, wildlife management, and a collaborative scientific working group on Chronic Wasting Disease. Advisory Questions from the Environmental Committee https://widnr.widen.net/view/pdf/frop1w9xkk/WCC_SpringHearingQuestions_2021.pdf?t.download=true include:
· Support for the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act;
· Opposition to a new 42-mile segment of the Enbridge Line 5 crude oil pipeline;
· Opposition to issuance of permits for the Line 5 project;
· Requirement to have perennial native species vegetative buffers along rivers, streams and ditches;
· Evaluation and restriction of high-capacity wells.
The Conservation Congress Spring Hearings are a wonderful example of grass-roots democracy at its best, unique to Wisconsin. You can share your vote from the comfort of your computer desk with no pre-registration required. The issues considered are critical to the health and productivity of our environment and natural resources. And this year, your vote can help spur our legislators on to action on this most vital crisis facing our own species and the future of life on this planet as we know it.
Tom Wilson lives in Viroqua.
Tom Wilson 310 ppm CO2 at birth tom.w...@cclvolunteer.org vt.at...@citizensclimatelobby.org 707 Railroad Ave Viroqua, WI 54665 715 829 3512 rese...@mwt.net “Action is the antidote to despair”¬ Joan Baez "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good" -- credited to Voltaire Act NOW on carbon pricing!