Solutions for climate change
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Bipartisan, workable climate solutions exist, and they do not include creating new carbon taxes. Free-market innovation — not government regulation or taxation — is the best way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
People are globally rejecting carbon taxes as the answer to lowering emissions. French citizens took to the streets to protest an energy tax aimed at carbon. In America, voters in Washington state voted down a ballot measure to create a tax on emissions.
The reasons for this rejection are clear. Energy providers pass the cost of taxes on to consumers in the form of spiking electric bills and fuel prices. American families will see an increase in their energy costs without a return on that investment.
Some in Washington have suggested that Americans could receive dividend checks from collected carbon taxes — an idea that’s wishful thinking at best. Just as far-fetched is the idea that establishing a carbon tax would roll back regulations. Any new carbon tax would add red tape, not reduce it.
Those of us interested in real solutions are looking to free-market innovation to reduce emissions.
Clean and constant nuclear power emits zero carbon dioxide. We should expand America’s nuclear energy production and continue to support innovators building advanced reactors.
Just as critical is the development of technologies to capture carbon and use it to produce commercial products such as building materials.
The private sector is already doing its part. Recently, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos each dedicated part of their personal fortunes to research carbon-reduction technologies that can be deployed across the globe.
In 2019, America led the world in reducing energy-related carbon emissions. Promising research and a growing natural gas market will reduce emissions even further.
Punishing carbon taxes and the regulations that would accompany them are not the answer to reducing America’s carbon emissions. Bipartisan agreement can be found by looking to innovation.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., is chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
