Can one piece of legislation reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 40% in 12 years, create 2.1 million new U.S. jobs, create a healthier environment, and pay every U.S. citizen $500+ per year? That’s what H.R. 763 – Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019 proposes to do.
Earth Day 2019 seems like an appropriate day to remind ourselves of the realities of climate change, and that there is no Planet B.
This blog started in April 2010 (goodness, has it been that long!) with a focus on green building in Miami. And it is still that. But much like I imagine journalist David Wallace-Wells felt collecting disparate articles with one terrifying, unifying thread – I’ve realized that if we, as a nation and as a planet, do not address climate change now, it won’t matter how great the sustainable buildings are in Miami. They will be underwater.
I’ve also realized that the Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763) is the best, quickest way for the United States to begin addressing our country’s carbon emissions.
According to energyinnovationact.org, there are two primary features – a “carbon fee” and a “carbon dividend” – and two protections for businesses.
This policy puts a fee on fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. It starts low, and grows over time. This will drive down carbon pollution because energy companies, leading industries, and American consumers will move toward cleaner, cheaper options.
The money collected from the carbon fee is allocated in equal shares every month to the American people to spend as they see fit. Program administrative costs are paid from the fees collected. The government does not keep any of the money from the carbon fee.
To protect U.S. manufacturers and jobs, imported goods will pay a border carbon adjustment, and goods exported from the United States will receive a refund under this policy.
This policy preserves effective current regulations, like auto mileage standards, but pauses the EPA authority to regulate the CO2 and equivalent emissions covered by the fee, for the first 10 years after the policy is enacted. If emission targets are not being met after 10 years, Congress gives clear direction to the EPA to regulate those emissions to meet those targets. The pause does not impact EPA regulations related to water quality, air quality, health or other issues. This policy’s price on pollution will lower carbon emissions far more than existing and pending EPA regulations.
For more information about the Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act, please visit Energy Innovation Act org and Citizens Climate Lobby . And to read the full text of the bill, click here:
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day 2019 than to voice my support for H.R. 763 – The Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act. How about you?
Representative Ted Deutch (D-FL-22), along with six co-sponsors, introduced the Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. Since then, 21 additional Representatives have added their names in support. Thank you to the following Representatives for signing on as co-sponsors so far:
For more information about H.R.763 – Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019:
What can reduce carbon emissions, create 2 million new U.S. jobs, and pay a dividend to every American household? The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act was initially introduce to Congress in November 2018, and re-introduced in January of this year.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act – H.R. 763 – creates “a fee on carbon-emitting fuels, like coal, oil or gas, assessed at the mine, the well, or the port of entry.” This is NOT a tax. All fees collected will be deposited into a Carbon Dividend Trust Fund, with 100% of the net revenues paid as dividends to every U.S. household. Under this plan, fees and dividends will start small, with fees in the first year “at $15 per metric ton of CO2-equivalent GHG emissions, and rises steadily at $10 per ton each year” with dividends expected to be around $500 per person.
The idea of U.S. citizens receiving an annual dividend from the oil & gas industry is not new. And the nearly 40-year history of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend supports the contention that HR 763 will also stimulate local economies.
On November 27, 2018, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act became the first bipartisan carbon tax bill to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. When it was introduced in the Senate three weeks later, it became the first bipartisan carbon tax bill to be active in both houses of the U.S. Congress. With a new Congress just sworn in, it was reintroduced in the House of Representatives on January 24, as H.R. 763.
Joseph Robertson – Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition
In the House, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act is sponsored by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL-22), and co-sponsored by:
In the past two weeks, four more Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors: Alcee Hastings (D-FL-20), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Henry Johnson (D-GA-4), and Dean Phillips (D-MN-3).
It’s time to spread the word. Let’s put a #priceonpollution and support H.R. 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.
