Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, climate champion

Transcription

1 CCL Monthly Conference Call, Saturday, May 4, 2013 Groups meet at 9:45am PT/12:45pm ET The international conference call starts at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET The conference call part of the meeting is a little over an hour long and the groups meet for another hour after that to plan actions. Call-in number: Pass code # Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, climate champion Nearly every week, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D- RI) goes to the floor of the Senate to speak about climate change and the urgent need for congressional action. Earlier this year he organized the Bicameral Climate Change Task Force, which meets regularly to discuss national climate policy. Along with three other members of Congress, Whitehouse authored a carbon tax discussion draft seeking public comment. We'll talk to him about the discussion draft and the potential for legislation in this Congress. Actions: 1) Get businesses, organizations and communities of faith to sign on to CCL s letter of support for a revenue-neutral carbon fee. 2) Generate letters to the editor supporting a fee on carbon that gives revenue back to the public. Download template and guidelines for MoC bios. Help us fund CCL s conference in Washington! Go to our indiegogo.com page, make a contribution and publicize it on your social networks:

2 MAY LASER TALK The letter of support for a carbon fee As we look to the future, you may be concerned about the impact that climate change will have on our grandchildren. A report from the International Energy Agency warned that we could be headed toward 11 degrees of warming 1 by the end of the century if we don t start reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the next few years. That type of warming will create food and water shortages and make extreme weather disasters like Superstorm Sandy more frequent. We need a national policy that will reduce those greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and encourage other nations to follow our lead. One of the best solutions is a steadily-rising tax on carbon-based fuels with revenue returned to the American people. This approach is supported by conservatives like former Secretary of State George Shultz 2 and Reagan economist Art Laffer 3. It corrects the distortion in the marketplace that leaves fossil fuels unaccountable for the damage they do to our society. By correcting that distortion, we can then use the power of the free market to make the transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy, thereby reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Returning the revenue to the public will allow that transition to happen without a negative impact on our economy. To convince our members to Congress to enact this solution, we have a letter of support being signed by businesses, organizations, houses of worship and people of influence. I have a copy of that letter here. Would you look it over and consider becoming a signer?

3 ACTION Letter of support for climate legislation Get businesses, organizations and communities of faith to sign CCL s letter of support for revenue-neutral carbon tax. We can show members of Congress that support exists in their districts and states for such legislation by getting businesses, organizations and faith groups to sign our letter of support. We will also take signatures from people of influence in our communities political office holders, faith leaders, college presidents, etc. At your meeting this month: Review the letter. Take some time for everyone to start making a list of potentials signers they could approach in their communities. Have participants share their lists with one another at the meeting. Assign a volunteer to manage and support volunteers in the group who are contacting potential signers. Make sure at least one volunteer in your group is assigned to enroll individuals and corporations who have made significant financial contributions to congressional campaigns in your area. When you get a signer, send a scanned copy of the signed letter or just the information name of organizations, city, contact name and to steve.valk@citizensclimatelobby.org. Download a copy of the letter here: Find major contributors to congressional campaigns here:

4 Congress: Put a tax on carbon to curb climate change Nearly all the scientific experts agree on the basics of climate change. The Earth is warming. Humans are doing it. It s already harming us and other species. If we continue burning fossil fuels at recent rates, it poses far more dangerous and significant risks for our children and grandchildren. We are approaching a dangerous threshold whereby, if it is crossed, the earth will simply take the controls out of our hands, and tropical forests, peat bogs, permafrost and the oceans will switch from absorbing carbon to releasing it. We still have time to act if we start now. We know what to do. We have affordable, practical solutions that don t require great sacrifice. We can adopt a balanced approach. We can cut energy demand with efficiency innovations and some additional conservation, and we can scale up energy supplies with existing alternative technologies that don t burn carbon. Our first step has to be a big one. We can avoid the worst impacts of global warming if we put a federal, revenue neutral carbon tax on fossil fuels that reflects their true costs to society. There is an emerging consensus among economists that the smartest approach is to enact a consumer-friendly carbon tax in the following way: Goal. Reduce emissions to 80 % below 2005 levels by Start small, Increase predictably. Increase the tax slowly but steadily until we hit our emissions goal. Businesses need predictable energy prices. The economy needs a smooth transition. Easy to administer at home and to emulate abroad. The tax is collected only once at the first point of sale the mine, wellhead or border crossing. Revenue neutral. All the revenue is returned to citizens to mitigate the economic impact. Government keeps none of the funds. Protects the vulnerable. For lower-income Americans, the refunds match or exceed increased energy costs. Protects business from unfair domestic and international competition using border taxes and credits. Doesn t play favorites. Lets markets and localities pick the winning technologies. For the good of our nation, and to preserve a livable world for future generations, we urge you to enact this revenue-neutral tax on carbon. For organizations, businesses, faith communities: NAME OF ORGANIZATION CITY CONTACT (NAME & ) For individuals: NAME ORGANIZATION CITY

5 ACTION Write letters to the editor One of the best ways to influence members of Congress and move the national conversation forward on climate change is to get letters to the editor published. Letters stand a better chance of getting published if they are in response to stories or commentary in the newspaper, particularly front-page stories and opinion pieces on the editorial pages. At your meeting this month, bring copies of the newspaper for that day and from the previous four days. Have members of your group look through the paper for letter-to-the-editor opportunities stories or opinion pieces that have a possible connection to the climate issue. Topics may include: Extreme weather events The Keystone XL Pipeline Renewable energy Fracking Rising gasoline prices You may have to get a little creative, but you can usually find something to respond to. Once you find something, start your letter by referencing the article in the paper and then transition into how it relates to the issue of climate change. Move then to the solution revenue-neutral carbon tax and then wrap up your letter. Points that can be made: People throughout the world especially the poor will face additional food and water shortages as the Earth heats up. Extreme weather will become more intense and frequent in a warming world. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, we must transition as quickly as possible from fossil fuels to clean energy. Fossil fuels are cheaper than clean energy because their price does not reflect the damage they do to society in terms of health, security and environmental degradation. A market-based approach to cutting CO2 endorsed by conservatives like George Shultz and Art Laffer is a revenue-neutral carbon tax with proceeds returned to the public. A tax-and-rebate bill the Climate Protection Act has been introduced in the Senate by Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders.

6 BONUS LASER TALK Border tax adjustments In order for a carbon tax to work domestically and on an international scale, an effective border tax adjustment will be necessary on imports from countries that don t have equivalent carbon pricing. The purpose of the border tax adjustment would be to protect American businesses from unfair foreign competition. In international legal circles, Joost Pauwelyn is considered the world s top World Trade Organization (WTO) expert. From Geneva, Mr. Pauwelyn assured us that a border tax adjustment is viable. He assigned a group of graduate students the task of researching how international carbon pricing mechanisms could be harmonized with a domestic fee on carbon while complying with WTO law. While it will probably be more complicated than we would like, top legal scholars say that a border tax adjustment will pass WTO scrutiny. Having a border tax adjustment will ensure that if countries like India and China want to keep using dirty manufacturing processes, they ll have to pay the U.S. government for the privilege.