Taking Steps to Fight Global Warming

To the Editor:

Re “Climate in the Senate” (editorial, July 1):

While it’s encouraging to see Congress taking steps to reduce global warming, the approach championed at the moment — cap and trade — is fraught with perils and ineffectiveness. The biggest drawback is the creation of a trillion-dollar market in carbon futures and derivatives, a speculator’s playground that has economic disaster written all over it.

Your admonishment to the Senate notwithstanding, the bill that was passed in the House appears dead on arrival. A simpler, more effective and politically viable option is a tax on carbon, with revenues returned to Americans through income and payroll taxes to offset higher energy costs. Such proposals have already been introduced by both Republicans and Democrats in the House, making it a solution both parties appear willing to support.

Come late fall, when the Waxman-Markey bill has languished in the Senate, lawmakers will see the need to move on to Plan B — the carbon tax.

Steve Valk
Atlanta, July 1, 2009

The writer is the communications director for Citizens Climate Lobby.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/opinion/l03climate.html?_r=3&ref=opinion