The Gazette’s Dec. 7 editorial (“Pipeline will be early test for Trump”) advocated a spirit of reconciliation from the Trump White House regarding the Dakota Access pipeline controversy.
However, reconciliation and cooperation can also help reduce fossil fuel demand in the first place. Bipartisan solutions do exist.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a grassroots organization with both Democratic and Republican support, promotes a carbon fee and dividend proposal that places a predictable, steadily rising price on carbon, then returns these fees to households as a monthly energy dividend. In other words, no new taxes.
Carbon emissions could be meaningfully reduced, and 2.8 million jobs added to the American economy. Businesses would have powerful incentives to reduce their carbon footprints; the cash back to most U.S. households would equal or exceed their increased energy costs.
I encourage everyone who considers climate change a serious problem to get busy.
Go to https://citizensclimatelobby.org and join the economists, scientists, business leaders, faith leaders, local governments, and editorial boards across the political spectrum who support this solution — internationally and locally.
Lora Sandhusen
Leeds