By
ecoRI News staff
Sea-level
rise, storm surges, flooding and other local impacts of climate change
underscore the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. A new study has found
that a fee on carbon pollution can reduce those emissions while also adding
jobs.
The
recently released report entitled “The Economic,
Climate, Fiscal, Power and Demographic Impact of a National Fee-and-Dividend
Carbon Tax” was commissioned by the nonprofit Citizens
Climate Lobby (CCL). Prepared by Regional Economic Models Inc.
(REMI), this study examined the nationwide economic impact of a steadily rising
fee on carbon pollution that returns 100 percent of the revenue to households. See EDITOR'S NOTE at the end of this article.
The
report shows such a fee will add 2.1 million jobs over 10 years while reducing
carbon dioxide emissions by 33 percent. Some 100,000 of those jobs would be
added in New England, according to the report.
Since
electricity generation from coal could be phased out by 2025, air quality would
improve as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants were
reduced.
There
also would be other important results, according to report. For example,
rebates would return nearly $400 billion to households — or nearly $300 a month
for a family of four. The impact to the total cost of living is less than 3
percent from the baseline, and gross domestic product (GDP) increases between
$80 billion and $90 billion, according to the report.
Electricity
prices peak in 2026, and then start to decrease, according to the report.
Local
members of the Rhode Island Citizens Climate Lobby chapter will travel to
Washington, D.C. this month to meet with members of Congress to present the
study.
“What
this study shows is that by giving the revenue back to the people, a carbon fee
and dividend will actually stimulate the economy,” said Mark Reynolds, CCL’s
executive director. “The big knock on a carbon fee has been that it would kill
jobs. That assumption is now blown out of the water.”
Last
month, the National Climate Assessment reported that the impact of climate
change is already being felt across the nation. According to the assessment,
the Northeast has experienced a greater recent increase in extreme precipitation
than any other U.S. region.
“The
situation in Rhode Island will get much worse if we fail to curb our carbon
dioxide emissions,” said Jamestown resident Mary Jane Sorrentino, one of the
co-leaders of the Rhode Island chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby. “We don’t
have to make a choice between protecting the climate and protecting jobs. This
study shows we can do both, by enacting a fee on carbon pollution and returning
the money back to households.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: While I do believe there will be significant offsets from the switch from dirty energy to green energy - that green jobs will grow while jobs in dirty industries will decline, it's not just about economics and math.
I suggest it is a BAD idea to try to say it's just a simple shift because it's a lot more complicated than that.
I had to deal with these issues upclose and personal when I worked for the Citizens Coal Council which helped local citizens groups curb the abuses of coal mining operations. When mining jobs in Appalachia are lost, new jobs created in green industries do little good for unemployed miners.
As Springsteen sang, "those jobs are going, boys, and they ain't comin' back."
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| Tony Mazzochi (1926 - 2002) |
Retraining a 55-year old miner in West Virginia to take a job as a solar panel installer in New Mexico is just not practical.
Visionary labor leader, the late Tony Mazzochi proposed more than 20 years ago that what this country needs is a "Superfund for Workers." That when it is in the public interest to eliminate an industry, like fossil fuels, that cannot be reformed or sustained, there needs to be a plan to provide lifetime relief to the thousands of workers who will otherwise be left behind.
- Will Collette