ELY— Advocates of prompt action to address climate change spoke at a recent Tuesday Group gathering, arguing for Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation and highlighting the importance of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, or CCL.

North Shore resident and author Katya Gordon, who wrote “Sea Change: Addressing Climate hange on Lake Superior,” (See review on Page 10B) and Eric Enberg, M.D., who works for St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, presented his “Political/Financial Perspective on Climate Change.”

Retired Ely resident Barb Jones, who earned a PhD in Physics at the University of London and was a professor of Physics at the University of California-San Diego, explained how the legislation and the citizens’ lobby can help address the growing climate change challenges.

Their recent presentation came as concerns about climate change are intensifying around the world in the wake of two key scientific reports issued in the past few months that have suggested that time is rapidly running out for humans to address climate change in time to avoid catastrophic effects.

Many people, but not all, are concerned about global warming and understand the need to slow or stop the addition of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, according to Enberg

“Citizens’ Climate Lobby advocates that one of the best ways to help our economy shift to less carbon use is through federal legislation called Carbon Fee and Dividend,” he said. A bipartisan bill to implement the concept was introduced to Congress earlier this month. It takes steps to implement the “Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.”

How it works

Producers of oil, gas or coal pay a fee to the government based on how much carbon dioxide (CO2) would be produced by that fuel. “The fee starts at $15 per ton of CO2 and increases by $10 per ton each year,” Jones said. “The government collects the fees and returns the money to each household by a monthly dividend check.”

The whole process is revenue neutral.

The producers of the oil, gas or coal will pass on their costs to consumers, so we can expect costs to rise, she said. For example, for each $10 per ton of CO2, gasoline will increase in cost by about 11 cents a gallon.

“Other products will increase in cost also, but products that use less carbon-intensive energy in their production will increase less than those that heavily use carbon-based energy,” she said.“ For the average consumer (that is about 70 percent of us) the monthly dividend check will more than cover these costs. The high-end users will be out of pocket.”

Under the bill, according to Jones, the dividend check will be handled by the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration and will come to each tax filing household with one share for each adult and a half share for up to two children.

All the fees will be returned minus a couple percent for administration costs. “It is expected that the additional revenue coming to the average consumer will boost the economy, providing many new jobs,” she added.

In the bill just introduced, fuel for agriculture is exempted so the fees that farmers pay for diesel for their tractors, etc., will be directly rebated.

“As the fees increase, consumers will likely seek the cheaper options,” Jones said. “Those options will be products that use cleaner energy in their manufacture and transportation. This will slowly push the economy to greener choices. These changes will be made by market forces and not mandates.”

Studies show that in just 20 years, such a “fee and dividend” system could reduce carbon emissions up to 50 percent of 1990 levels while adding 2.8 million jobs to the American economy.

A “Border Tax Adjustment” would be made for products imported or exported to the United States. “This will prevent companies gaining advantage by moving manufacturing operations across the border or overseas,” Jones said. “This process would likely encourage other countries to adopt similar Fee and Dividend legislation.”

Ely efforts

As many as five years ago, a discussion group called “Climate Change Group” was formed involving local citizens who wanted to learn more about global warming. They continue to meet the first Tuesday of each month at the Ely Senior Center.

“It is very informal, and we talk about some of the many aspects of global warming, usually taking a specific topic each month,” Jones said. “We occasionally have “experts” come to talk with us but mostly we do our own research. This is not a lobbying group, more of an educational exercise.”

Usually 10 to 20 people attend and most participate in the discussion, she said.

“Some of us wanted to be more active, and with help from Katya (Gordon), we discovered Citizens’ Climate Lobby and decided to see if a CCL chapter in Ely would be viable,” Jones said.

The Ely Climate Change Lobby group has been active for about a year. “Our goals are to educate our friends, neighbors, local politicians, and the community at large about the problems of global warming and the advantages of passing a Carbon Fee and Dividend Bill in Congress,” she said.

“We have written letters, made phone calls, talked with candidates who are running for office and had a table at the Ely Farmers Market last summer. We have almost 100 people on our email list and a core group of five to eight peope who get things done. We get help from CCL chapters in Duluth/Two Harbors, Grand Marais and Mt. Iron.”

SIDEBAR

New state education standards would reflect manmade climate change

Teachers across the state will soon be addressing proposed science education standards that would, for the first time in Minnesota, teach that humans are the primary cause of climate change.

Some educators already teach about humans’ impact on the climate. Writing it into state standards would be add muscle if they face pushback from students or parents.

And it would help ensure the topic gets taught.

The Minnesota science education standards get an update every 10 years. A committee of K-12 educators, higher education representatives and community members create and revise the standards during a months-long review and approval process.

Once they’re in place, teachers’ coursework must align with statewide standards. Individual educators and districts still have final say in how they present concepts to students.

Members of the public have opportunities to comment before the final standards take effect. The first public comment period has closed, and a second draft of the standards is expected mid-February.

If approved, the standards would be phased in starting next year.