In a recent op-ed (“‘Just say no’ not best response to EPA climate rules,” Aug. 11) by Bob Inglis and Mark Reynolds, the authors present convincing arguments for assessing a carbon fee and returning it to the people. Their market-driven plan could avert climate disaster without regulations while producing jobs and boosting the economy, thus overcoming the objections of conservatives who persistently oppose all climate initiatives. Economic analyses reveal that even residents and politicians in coal- and petroleum-producing states can like it.
Besides sustaining a climate that can sustain us, there are advantages the authors didn’t mention. In a pollution-free future, a healthier population of Americans will think back on the intolerable social and environmental damage caused by producing and transporting fossil fuels: by fracking, producing the tar sands and coal mining (especially mountaintop removal); and by continual oil well blowouts, pipeline breaks, tanker accidents, oil-train derailments and refinery accidents. They will wonder, “Why did we wait so long to do something?”
Carol Steinhart
Madison, Wisconsin