07 Feb STOP FREE POLLUTION!

As we work to retire our coal plant at Fayette, economics is a key issue.

Coal is cheap because it does not pay to pollute. All of the climate and health costs are simply ignored. Society pays them to be sure in the form of climate change, drought, asthma, smog, dead pecan orchards, etc.  – but those costs are not accounted for on the books in mining, transportation, burning and waste storage of coal and other fossil fuels. They are called ‘externalities’ – basically “Pollution is Free.”

A proposal to capture that cost is the Carbon Tax and Rebate put forward by the Citizen’s Climate Lobby (citizensclimatelobby.org) and others. It would charge a significant – and rising – tax on carbon use. Then it would then rebate that tax on a per capita basis to every citizen. Individuals, especially at the low end of the economic ladder, would not be hurt. As energy prices went up, they would be compensated.

The key to the whole system is the strong signal that it sends to the market:  Use less carbon. Economic choices across the board would be made to avoid the tax, spurring purchases of renewable energy, pushing innovation in millions of ways to find other energy sources and methods to power our economy and build our stuff. The market needs to know that pollution isn’t free.

Lest this sound like crazy talk, read the article from the New York Times, December 5, 2013:  Large Companies Prepared To Pay Price on Carbon (http://nyti.ms/NeGwGd).

Big Oil sees this as a logical way for the markets to innovate to minimize carbon. They are planning for it. ExxonMobil, in fact, has come out in favor of a carbon tax and they incorporate the assumption of such a tax in their long range planning.

The Huffington Report links a major report by the international Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)(http://huff.to/NeLItC) showing the internal pricing of carbon by major companies across all categories. Here are some examples from the oil patch:

BP, $40

ConocoPhillips, $8 – 46

Devon Energy Corporation, $15

Exxon Mobil Corporation, $60

Royal Dutch Shell, $4

Here are examples from the major utilities, with the prices they use where they’ve disclosed those figures:

Ameren Corporation, $30

American Electric Power Company, Inc.

CMS Energy Corporation

Duke Energy Corporation

Entergy Corporation

Integrys Energy Group

PG&E Corporation

Xcel Energy Inc., $20

Read the full report from CDP, it’s an eye opener about how big business is planning for a world with less carbon – how they are expecting government action to signal the markets to reduce carbon. In fact, they often complain that the problem is not the carbon tax – that they can deal with. It is the uncertainty about when and how much that complicates their planning.

When talking about retiring our own coal plant at Fayette, one of Austin Energy’s comments was that they were waiting for a carbon tax to come along and make the plant uneconomic. In short, they were waiting for the days of Free Pollution to end.

I would hope that they would grab the bull by the horns and begin planning a cost of pollution built into the upcoming Generation Plan. That would be the Austin-Way to tackle this problem and move to a solution. But if our own Austin Energy won’t tackle climate change, we have to help them. We have to move this Carbon Tax and Rebate forward in Congress.

I’m not unaware of the number of climate deniers in Congress and the Senate. We have to work to convince them that a.) There’s a problem and b.) There is a solution.

The Department of Defense is identifying climate disruption as a major world security threat moving forward. Also Energy, Transportation, Commerce, NASA, NOAA and Agriculture – you name it. All of the departments of government that study the issue are finding major risks. It’s time that Congress grapples with these serious climate issues. There is no shortage of information.

One of the best ways I know to get involved is with the Citizen’s Climate Lobby. Look at citizensclimatelobby.org for their plan, factual information and a way to join in. A very active group is right here in Austin. They meet monthly and organize letters and visits to members of Congress. You can help move this ball forward.

Contact Austin’s Citizen’s Climate Lobby at:  austin@citizensclimatelobby.org and join the campaign to end Free Pollution.

Move Austin Beyond Coal!