A Climate Policy Allegory: We Must Educate Ourselves, Our Choices Are Going to Matter

Here in NY State, we are on the verge of passing the Climate & Community Protection Act (CCPA).  It is a bill that was promoted by a coalition group, NY Renews, including unions, environmental groups and justice groups.  The CCPA’s goals are to reach 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% emissions cuts by 2050.

NY Renews has a companion carbon tax called the Climate & Community Investment Act (CCIA).  Presumably, after the CCPA passes, NY Renews will turn its focus to passage of the CCIA.  This carbon tax would start at $35/ton.  The funds collected would be used as follows: 30% Climate Jobs & Infrastructure, 33% Community Just Transition Fund, 7% Worker and Community Assurance Fund and 30% New Yorker Energy Rebate Fund.

This carbon tax would be promoted as centering on justice concerns.

There is another carbon tax proposal that has been introduced into the NY legislature.  This carbon tax would take 60% of the collected monies and return them to the 60% poorest citizens of the state.  The other 40% of the collected monies would be invested in driving  the growth of a clean energy economy.  This bill, known as the “Parker/Cahill Bill,” for its sponsors in the Senate and the Assembly, is essentially revenue neutral for the poor and middle class, who would get a carbon dividend. 

This carbon tax would help the poor, regardless of their identification with any particular group, be it a union, or a group that has suffered discrimination in our nation through our history.

I am sitting here in a voting precinct that voted for Trump, an almost universally white precinct, that has never recovered from the 2006 crash.  This district is rural, poor and white.  People are struggling to stay employed and to pay their property taxes.  My neighbors must drive long distances to work, and generally do so in trucks and SUVs, to get through snow that cannot be permitted to stop them from getting to work.  Most homes are heated with oil.

Which carbon tax is implemented here in NY has huge implications for my neighbors.

If the Parker/Cahill Bill is implemented, they will get back a dividend that surpasses their increased energy costs.  If the CCIA is implemented, they will not. 

If the CCIA is implemented, union workers and historically disadvantaged groups will benefit.  If the Parker/Cahill Bill is implemented, these groups will get an equal dividend as anyone else, so long as they are among the poorest 60%.

We are on the cusp of implementing meaningful climate policy.  We have to be, or we will suffer immensely.  How we do it matters.  To real people.  And to whether we can do it in a way that endures. 

My neighbors will rightly reject solutions if those solutions leave them out. 

Finally, no one should delude themselves that this story is peculiar to NY.  Revenue neutrality is about justice.  This is true in NY, in MA, in WA and, yes, in Washington, DC. 

It is one of the reasons I so strongly support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.  Fairness matters.