A Corporate Carbon Tax Friday, April 27, 2007 By Christopher J. Dodd "Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam." - Gladwyn Hill, writing about the planning stages of the first Earth Day in The New York Times, Nov. 30, 1969 THIRTY-SEVEN years after the first Earth Day, the environmental crisis Gladwyn Hill reported on not only still exists, its stakes are dramatically higher. The movement that led to Earth Day's creation focused on preserving the environment so that the trees and wildlife would be around for future generations to enjoy. Today we worry about the world we give not to our great-grandchildren but our own children. Parents are alarmed by asthma rates that have increased fourfold since 1980 and coastal communities like New Orleans savaged by increasingly extreme weather. And we all are concerned by reports that a million species could become extinct in the next half century. Those are but a few of the stakes that led Al Gore to describe the

global warming crisis as a "planetary emergency." This week a panel of retired generals and admirals released a report stating that "climate change is a threat multiplier in already fragile regions, exacerbating conditions that lead to failed states - the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism." It is no longer up for debate: Global warming is a matter of economic, environmental, and national security. But with the right leadership, global warming need not be a fait accompli. Because we contribute a quarter of the earth's greenhouse gas emissions, the United States has an awesome responsibility, but also a remarkable opportunity to lead. By taking serious steps to reverse the effects of global climate change, the United States can create a brighter, greener, healthier, more prosperous, and secure future. With time so short, I proposed a comprehensive energy plan last week to make that future a reality in the near term. My plan includes tough fuel efficiency standards that would require that every new car get 50 miles to the gallon by 2017. It would make historic investments in biofuels produced out on our farms and invest in hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles to ensure that being wealthy is never a prerequisite for being green. And it would draw on the purchasing power of the government by requiring federal buildings and vehicles be equipped with the latest energy efficiency technologies, because it's time our government leads by example. Each of these steps, and others, would create economic incentives to move away from polluting, carbon-emitting technologies and toward clean-burning, energy efficient ones, helping us eliminate our dependence on Middle East oil by 2015. Of course, with all our wealth, there is no doubt that America can make all the clean energy investments in the world. But if fossil

fuel energy sources remain the cheapest option, we will never make the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future. That's why, in addition to whatever else we do, America must enact a corporate carbon tax. Used in conjunction with cap and trade systems that allow clean corporations to sell pollution credits to dirtier companies, a corporate carbon tax can be implemented quickly, affect every energy sector, and above all provide the strongest disincentive possible to polluting. Some argue that corporations would simply pass on costs of a corporate carbon tax to consumers. But in an era where the price of gasoline already jumps 30 to 40 cents in only a few weeks' time, such arguments ring decidedly hollow. You cannot be serious about acting on the urgent threat of global warming, about making us less captive to Middle East oil, or investing in renewable energy, unless you have a corporate carbon tax that eliminates the last incentive to pollute: that it's cheaper. With all we are facing - from health and environmental concerns to war abroad - making dirty energy a less attractive option to consumers and business is nothing to be afraid of. But it's particularly attractive because the revenues of a corporate carbon tax can be used to bring the cost of clean energy down. Used to fast-track renewable energy research and development and deployment of clean energy and energy efficient technologies, a corporate carbon tax would generate more than $50 billion annually, helping us get technologies out of the laboratories and onto our roads and into our homes and businesses, jumpstarting America's global competitiveness in the process. But above all else, a corporate carbon tax sends a powerful message: that America will lead the world on climate change, helping polluting countries from developing nations to China take

the steps they need to get this crisis under control. With the right leadership, the United States will emerge as that leader. But if the last six years is any indication, it won't happen on its own. It will take choices that are not only tough but smart and a president who is honest with the American people about the stakes. A president who shows us that with the right leadership, America will not suffer by tackling global warming and ridding ourselves of Middle East oil, but prosper. Getting this challenge right comes down to a simple, fundamental belief about America - that we have always drawn our strength from our unique ability to come together around our best, most innovative ideas in common purpose, making our country and world stronger. With the stakes of global warming so high, the American people are ready to do that again. They're ready to change course - to move away from polluting energy sources and toward a cleaner future. And with the right leadership, they will be ready for a corporate carbon tax. It's a big idea whose time has come.