Letter to Dan Lungren

Dear Congressman Lungren:

Thank you so much for your response to my recent inquiry regarding how to deal with climate change. However, I did not outline my proposal as I would have preferred to speak to you directly. I understand you are very busy campaigning and perhaps do not have a time slot in your schedule to meet with me. Therefore, I will outline my proposal to you here in this email and hopefully you will have a chance to consider this and offer your response.I left off my previous correspondence by pointing out that the science regarding global warming is very settled. I provided you with the phone number of the most respected scientist in this field, Dr. James Hansen over at Nasa. Dr. Hansen has recommended a carbon tax as the most effective and quickest means to begin moving our economy to a post fossil fuel era. To clarify the definition of this tax, it is not a cap and trade system. Dr. Hansen and many others in the environmental movement do NOT support cap and trade and neither do I. A cap and trade system would create a huge and difficult to bureaucracy and the resources needed to monitor such a system would exceed the desired benefits. So, coming from another angle, I agree with you completely that cap and trade is not the way to go.

A carbon tax, however is elegant in its simplicity. The amount of Co2 produced by the burning of oil, coal and natural gas is known precisely by scientists. A tax would be assessed at the point of extraction or port of entry based on the resource being extracted or imported. Such a system would be simple to implement - there are only a few oil, coal and gas companies in the U.S. so monitoring would be far more simpler than a cap and trade system.The most intriguing aspect of such a tax is that the entire amount would be refunded back to the American people in the form of dividend checks. People who purchase products that are not directly tied to fossil fuels will actually earn money. Such a system will shift resources towards cleaner energy alternatives through shifting public demand. This will stimulate the collective talent and resources of private industry to a new post industrial clean energy revolution.Such a tax would be implemented gradually so that industry has time to adjust but I am very confident that American ingenuity will be up to the task. In short, we can and must begin this transition for our childrens’ sake. Please consider what I have said and not dismiss this flat out before speaking to others about it. Once again, I urge you to speak to Dr. Hansen to understand this solution before you pass judgment.

Best Regards,
David Brotman