Letter to the Editor: Obama's oil tax

Dear Editor:

I think President Obama’s proposal to phase in a tax of $10 on each barrel imported or domestically produced barrel of oil is a great idea which will help the U.S. transition to the new 21st Century clean energy economy.

It will stimulate our economy while creating thousands of new jobs in clean energy technologies. It will help to fund infrastructure projects like repairing roads and highways which we sorely need. 

The President’s plan is a great start, but it’s not just oil that pollutes our waters and creates the pollution and climate disruption-causing greenhouse gasses that threaten our, our children’s, and our grandchildren’s health and future: coal and natural gas do, too, often worse than oil. Let’s put a fee on the global-warming gasses these fuels create, but then return all of the funds to American families via a monthly dividend, keeping government small. As part of the plan, enact border adjustments (legal under WTO rules) to protect American jobs and businesses.

One such plan, called “carbon fee and dividend,” was studied by the prestigious Regional Economic Models, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. They found that a $10 per carbon-ton equivalent fee would grow the economy and create 2.1 million new jobs ten years after enactment, and 2.8 million jobs in twenty years; the economic stimulus provided by the dividend was so strong that even the oil-dependent states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas maintained job levels, while the Pacific Coast, including California, gained approximately 450,000 new jobs. 

Let's get behind the President and support a clean energy future!

Anita Rivero
Downey