A recent poll showed that 71 percent of Americans and 57 percent of Republicans did not want the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Climate agreement.
Unfortunately, Trump played to his core base and ignored the majority. Most conservatives know the security of our country and the world depends on a rapid transition to cleaner energy, and with full control of Congress, Republicans have an opportunity to take a new approach to making that transition.
A market-based carbon fee and dividend has been proposed by a group of highly respected Republicans (https://www.clcouncil.org/). A gradually increasing fee collected on carbon-intensive fuels would be 100 percent returned to U.S. households as a dividend.
The proposal includes border adjustments for the carbon content of both imports and exports to protect American competitiveness. Unlike the Clean Power plan, this proposal eliminates much of the regulatory authority of the EPA over carbon emissions, because the market drives down emissions. Therefore, this solution does not grow government.
This approach will stimulate investment in clean energy, creating jobs. In the first year, a family of four will receive $2000 in dividends and this would increase over time.
While costs of energy could increase in the short-term, 70 percent of Americans are expected to come out ahead. The program would be administered by the existing Social Security Administration, thus creating no new bureaucracy.
Representative Tipton and Senator Gardner, please lead the charge on this proposal in Congress and represent the majority of your constituents by taking action to address global warming.
Deb Paulson
Durango