Maine’s own Olympia Snowe recently joined former U.S. Treasury Secretaries George Schultz (under Reagan), Robert Rubin (under Clinton), and Henry Paulson (under George W. Bush), among others, in producing a report titled “Risky Business: The economic risks of climate change in the United States.”
This report argues that we must decisively and immediately reduce carbon emission to ensure against the potentially staggering economic costs of climate change. Sen. Susan Collins has also co-sponsored a bill to reduce super-pollutants, such as methane leaks, that contribute significantly to global warming.
Public figures of both parties have recognized climate change is too important an issue to fall victim to the empty rhetoric of partisan politics.
Many economists, including Mitt Romney’s economic adviser Greg Mankiw, agree that the best way to reduce these emissions is to put a price on carbon. This entails placing a fee on carbon at the first point of sale — at the mine, the well, or the seaport where it is imported.
Some of the cost of these fees will be passed on to consumers, no doubt, but both producers and consumers will be motivated to look for more efficient alternatives. Meanwhile, the proceeds of these fees would then be distributed to the American people, perhaps in the form of tax rebates.
Conservative economists prefer such a market mechanism over regulation because it would not require creating another bureaucracy.
James Richter, Lewiston
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