As noted in The New York Times on Feb. 7 (“A Conservative Climate Solution: A Republican Group Calls for A Carbon Tax”), a group of elder Republican statesmen, including former Secretary of State James Baker III, supports imposing a fee (which the journalist refers to as a “tax”) on carbon as a way of addressing climate change.
This approach has bipartisan support and follows conservative, free market principles. The money raised by the carbon fee would be returned to consumers as a dividend.
There is little doubt that our planet is warming – the past three years have been the warmest on record – and that this global warming is caused by human activities, through the release of carbon. We must come together and work towards a solution as quickly as possible.
The U.S. House of Representatives has a bipartisan group, the Congressional Safe Climate Caucus, to address climate change in a nonpartisan fashion. I urge Rep. Scott Tipton to join this caucus.
In a letter to me, Rep. Tipton stated that one of his top priorities was environmental stewardship. He also said he supports efforts by Congress to find solutions to climate change.
I challenge Rep. Tipton to act on his priorities and to work with the members of the Safe Climate Caucus to put forth legislation imposing a fee on carbon, as supported by the Republican elder statesmen.
Gail Harriss
Durango
