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The Bobster

Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:22 pm Post subject: Carbon Taxes for San Francisco and Boulder Colo |
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Of course, we should have been doing this 20 years ago, and what's being proposed now is far too little to change behavior ... but, it's a start. Let's see where it goes.
Yeah, I know it's a couple of weeks old. Sorry.
Air quality board to fine Bay Area polluters
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Jumping ahead of state and federal regulators, the Bay Area air quality district became the first in the nation on Wednesday to impose fees on businesses that pump some of the highest levels of carbon dioxide into the air each year.
The 15-1 vote by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District sets the stage for 2,500 companies and agencies - from supermarkets to gas stations to power plants - to pay 4.4 cents for every metric ton of carbon dioxide they expel, beginning July 1. The top 10 companies combined would pay more than $820,000. The fee for a large share of businesses would be less than $1. |
Apparently the fees themselves are just enough to cover the costs of measuring the polution.
Boulder surcharge on coal aims to reduce emissions tied to global warming
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Voters in a Colorado university town nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains have passed the country�s first municipal carbon tax to fight global warming.
Boulder, Colo., will charge residents and businesses the carbon tax based on how much electricity they use. Most electricity in Boulder is generated at plants that use coal, which produces more of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, than natural gas or oil.
Carbon taxes have been a subject of debate in the United States, the world�s leading consumer of fossil fuels, as some communities try to reduce the output of gases scientists link to global warming. |
About the main route of criticism so far is that these are local agencies and when statewide or national cap-and-trade schemes get underway it could start to get confusing. Still, people have been talking about it for several years, but now it's starting to happen.
Cool. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee

Joined: 25 May 2003
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:51 pm Post subject: Re: Carbon Taxes for San Francisco and Boulder Colo |
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The Bobster wrote: |
Of course, we should have been doing this 20 years ago, and what's being proposed now is far too little to change behavior ... but, it's a start. Let's see where it goes.
Yeah, I know it's a couple of weeks old. Sorry.
Air quality board to fine Bay Area polluters
Quote: |
Jumping ahead of state and federal regulators, the Bay Area air quality district became the first in the nation on Wednesday to impose fees on businesses that pump some of the highest levels of carbon dioxide into the air each year.
The 15-1 vote by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District sets the stage for 2,500 companies and agencies - from supermarkets to gas stations to power plants - to pay 4.4 cents for every metric ton of carbon dioxide they expel, beginning July 1. The top 10 companies combined would pay more than $820,000. The fee for a large share of businesses would be less than $1. |
Apparently the fees themselves are just enough to cover the costs of measuring the polution.
Boulder surcharge on coal aims to reduce emissions tied to global warming
Quote: |
Voters in a Colorado university town nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains have passed the country�s first municipal carbon tax to fight global warming.
Boulder, Colo., will charge residents and businesses the carbon tax based on how much electricity they use. Most electricity in Boulder is generated at plants that use coal, which produces more of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, than natural gas or oil.
Carbon taxes have been a subject of debate in the United States, the world�s leading consumer of fossil fuels, as some communities try to reduce the output of gases scientists link to global warming. |
About the main route of criticism so far is that these are local agencies and when statewide or national cap-and-trade schemes get underway it could start to get confusing. Still, people have been talking about it for several years, but now it's starting to happen.
Cool. |
Carbon taxes = too little too late.
It is not nearly enough. The US ought increase the gas tax and tax imported oil as well. |
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The Bobster

Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, as I said, we needed to have started this 20 years ago, at least. I suspect at some point the environment will become so dangerous, and the ecosystem so precarious that wars will be fought - perhaps an international police force formed eventually - to enforce lifestyle-based regulations to curb our disastrous effect on the planet.
It's a scary future to imagine. We need to be doing more now to affect things positively in the future.
The good news is that more and more people are thinking and talking about the problem, which was not true just a short time ago. We'll see what happens.
What's interesting about these two articles is that the change is happening from the lower reaches of govt first. Eventually, the state and national and regional branches will simply have to follow, if they can't figure out how to lead. |
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