The Herald on Sept. 25 carried an editorial touting a “carbon tax” and claiming that such a tax would be an efficient means of combatting global climate change brought on by the burning of fossil fuels, which results in increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide which, in turn, reflects or holds heat near to the earth rather than letting it escape. The infamous “greenhouse effect.”

I am astonished at the number of bright, educated people, like Barbara McLachlan, who simply buy into this basic premise without ever questioning it. One often reads articles, like the one at hand, that address the reduction of carbon dioxide with no consideration of necessity.

I, for one, am in the camp with J. Paul Brown and reject the underlying principle. There is simply no empirical evidence that supports this claim.

In fact, the reverse may be true.

Despite the fact that atmospheric carbon dioxide has continued to slowly increase and now approaches 400 parts per million (that’s .04 percent), temperatures have not increased.

There has been no global warming of tropospheric temperatures as measured by satellites for 19 years.

I am also amazed at the disingenuous claims of those like the author of this editorial, Steve Ruddell, in failing to disclose the extent to which carbon dioxide emissions have fallen in this country. Carbon dioxide emissions fell by 9 percent from 2005 to 2014.

This reduction in emissions did not come about because of some spurious, harmful tax but because of market forces.

In part because of horizontal drilling and fracking, the price of natural gas plummeted from a high of around $11 per million BTUs to just $2.90 today. Natural gas got really cheap and it is easier to handle and transport than coal.

These are all issues of which Brown is aware. He seeks to protect us from a pointless and hugely harmful tax that will hit all of us and which will have zero impact on the global climate.

Please vote to keep J. Paul Brown in the House of Representatives.

George Thompson

Durango