Letter to the Editor, The Journal & Topics, Des Plaines, Illinois, December 31, 2015

The current glut of oil and natural gas has caused fuel prices to drop, which may seem to be something for consumers to celebrate. However, the low prices create the wrong incentives for businesses and consumers. Low prices for fossil fuels weaken the business case for and the returns from investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Therefore, the current low gas and oil prices encourage greater reliance on fossil fuels, which in turn means more oil and gas will be fracked and pumped from the earth, and as a result the rate of carbon dioxide being added to the atmosphere will increase.

The occurrence of human-caused global warming is well documented and the science regarding it is settled. Ninety percent of the world’s glaciers are shrinking. The global average temperature is steadily increasing, with 2014 being the warmest year in existing records covering hundreds of years, and 2015 is on track to break that record. Sea levels have risen 8 inches over the last century and the rate of rise is increasing. Ocean acidification due to absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is killing coral all over the globe.

In addition to global warming, there are many other reasons to de-carbonize our energy system, such as negative health impacts of ozone and particulate pollution, destruction of natural lands by mining and drilling, oil spills, and depletion of finite resources. Exhausting earth’s finite fossil fuel resources as fast as we possibly can, while in the process dramatically warming the climate and swamping the earth’s coastlines with many feet of sea level rise, is an outcome we should do all we can to avoid.

In order to avoid this, the problematic incentives due to low fossil fuel prices need to be fixed by shifting the costs of the “externalities” — damage to our climate, our health and to future generations — onto fossil fuels themselves. The low prices of fossil fuels rely on the fact that carbon dioxide waste from burning them can currently be disposed of free of charge into the atmosphere. This can be corrected by placing a small but rising fee on fossil fuels, based on the amount of carbon they will emit, and imposed at the well, mine or port of entry. The revenues from this fee could be returned to households as a uniform monthly dividend.

The dividend would make the fee revenue-neutral, would cushion the cost to consumers and act as an economic stimulus. This market-based, revenue-neutral approach to pricing carbon is known as Carbon Fee and Dividend. It has been gaining support and recognition among policymakers, including among the heads of state and negotiators right now at the Paris Climate Conference. George Schultz, the former Secretary of State under President Reagan, is an enthusiastic supporter of Carbon Fee and Dividend. Our Congress should enact Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation.

It will efficiently reduce carbon emissions without sacrificing economic growth, will create the right incentives to conserve, to innovate and invest in alternatives, and will position the U.S.A. as a leader in de-carbonization and clean energy.

Wharton Sinkler, Des Plaines, Illinois

Source: http://www.journal-topics.com/opinion/article_2f4d4e52-afd8-11e5-b9fb-6b1e5ea463b2.html

Conglomerates come then they go,
Leaving others with their mess,
It’s a very dodgy dice they throw,
All they do is cause distress.

Oil, diamonds bright shiny gold,
Just to fill their pockets,
Their very souls are what they’ve sold,
To fill in Satans dockets.

It’s all for you is what they tell,
Your lives we will make sunny,
Let them all go rot in Hell,
They’re in it for the money.

Please don’t believe in their false hype,
Their fantasy tales are hollow,
Cancers then illnesses of every type,
Are exactly what will follow.

Earthquakes, poisoned water supplies,
That’s the price you’ll pay,
They don’t care what lives or dies,
Or whomever they betray.

Bribery is their weapon of hope,
They want a positive answer,
Without us they just cannot cope,
In effect they’re like a cancer.

Our planet is under serious threat,
The protesters deserve our backing,
Wanton greed we won’t aid and abet,
You can keep your,

‘’ Fricking Fracking ‘’