A way out of GOP climate never-never land

April 22, 2011

As Fred Hiatt pointed out in his April 18 op-ed column, “The GOP’s never-never land,” the ideological divide in Washington is preventing us from addressing civilization’s most urgent problem — climate change.

Many Republicans, however, see the need for action, even if they aren’t vocal about it, and would probably support a solution that didn’t conflict with their core values — don’t raise taxes and don’t increase the size of government.

Such a solution exists in the form of a carbon fee and dividend. Place a steadily rising fee (sure, call it a tax) on carbon-based fuels and then return all the revenue equally to U.S. households. The clear price signal on carbon will drive investments to clean energy. Returning the revenue to everyone mitigates rising energy costs. The revenue-neutral approach also does not increase the size of government.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the tons of jobs that the shift to green tech will create.

Steve Valk, Atlanta

The writer is communications director for the Citizens Climate Lobby.

Read the original article, On climate change, the GOP is lost in never-never land on the Washington Post site or as a PDF.