Sen. Gardner and a carbon tax

Re: “How a carbon tax can help Sen. Gardner,” Jan. 19 Allen Best column.

Thanks to Allen Best for his encouragement of Sen. Cory Gardner to get behind a carbon tax. Gardner would do well to support a carbon fee on fossil fuels at extraction, with the revenue returned to American households to offset any price rises and create jobs.

As Best wrote, all sectors are asking for this. The stumbling block seems to be the profitoriented coalition formed by the Koch brothers. These billionaires fund extreme-right candidates, buy elections, hire their own scientists to produce unreviewed studies, and their wealth depends on those same fossil fuels that are causing a future of calamity for all humans by climate changes threatening our food and water supplies.

Is Sen. Gardner beholden to them or to his constituents? We urge him to support us and our children.

Judy Danielson, Denver Leadership on climate is needed now. Although Allen Best wants Sen. Cory Gardner to take the lead single-handedly, it represents an opportunity for the entire Colorado delegation — Sens. Gardner and Michael Bennet, along with Reps. Ken Buck, Mike Coffman, Diana DeGette, Doug Lamborn, Ed Perlmutter, Jared Polis and Scott Tipton — to seize the spotlight of national leadership.

The Colorado electorate is well-disposed to action, as witnessed by the sustainability initiatives already taken by its cities and state government, by the writings of Colorado’s climate scientists, and by the adaptive strategies underway by the ski industry and water providers.

A tax on hydrocarbon production with monies distributed to U.S. households can be the basis for collaboration across the political aisle. Forward movement in an election year would stun a skeptical nation and change attitudes towards Washington.

Phil Nelson, Golden Send letters of 150 words or fewer to openforum@ denverpost.com or 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 800, Denver, CO, 80202. Please include full name, city and phone number. Contact us at 303-954-1331.