Addressing climate change is a priority

This is not the only time Reps. Costello and Meehan have bucked the forces of climate change denial that now hold sway in their party. They are among 16 Republicans in the U.S. House who signed onto a resolution saying climate change is real, humans are causing it, and Congress should do something about it.

Many of our elected officials in Washington, D.C. — most notably our president — refuse to accept the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity is causing dangerous climate change. However, the congressmen from our area, Ryan Costello (6th District) and Pat Meehan (7th District), acknowledge the obvious reality of climate change, and they aren’t afraid to vote that way, despite pressure from party leaders.

The latest example of their courage and independence came in early February, when the U.S. House considered repealing a set of federal anti-pollution regulations issued late last year. The regulations were a relatively small step to cut the amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, that escapes from oil and gas drilling on federal lands.

Those modest rules, from the Federal Bureau of Land Management, only apply to drilling operations on federal lands and on leases issued by Indian tribes. Drilling everywhere else, including here in Pennsylvania, is exempt. The rules will save U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars, because the huge amount of methane that escapes on these federal sites is valuable fuel that, when captured and sold, produces royalties for the U.S. treasury.

But the oil and gas industry doesn’t like being told to clean up its act, so its lobbyists complained to their friends in Congress. With Republicans solidly in control of the U.S. House, the repeal measure passed easily 221 to 191. Reps. Costello and Meehan broke party ranks and voted to keep these very modest steps for fighting methane pollution. Our senators, Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, will have a chance to save the methane rules when the repeal measure comes up for a vote in the Senate.

This is not the only time Reps. Costello and Meehan have bucked the forces of climate change denial that now hold sway in their party. They are among 16 Republicans in the U.S. House who signed onto a resolution saying climate change is real, humans are causing it, and Congress should do something about it. Both men have joined the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress, which now has 26 members — 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats.

The two congressmen can continue showing their concern on climate issues by supporting an innovative, marketbased climate protection proposal from a distinguished collection of Republican elder statesmen and conservative economists known as The Climate Leadership Council. What these dignitaries propose will literally pay cash dividends to American households while drastically cutting the biggest source of greenhouse gas pollution.

Their idea? Put a steadily increasing tax on fossil fuels, based on the carbon dioxide pollution they create when burned, and return all the money that’s collected to Americans in regular rebate checks.

This new pollution fee would raise the price of energy sources that harm the climate. As the cost of them goes up, businesses and consumers will shift to climate-friendly energy sources like solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear, and invest more in efficiency measures that cut their use of dirty energy.

Paying the pollution fee back to each American in equal shares — about $500 per person during the first full year — will protect vulnerable consumers from the pain of higher energy costs, while those who can afford to pay more do in fact pay more. A U.S. Treasury Department analysis indicates the bottom 70 percent of Americans will come out ahead. Rebating the money means politicians don’t get to spend it on pet projects or growing the size of government.

To keep a level playing field in trade with countries that don’t have similar pollution taxes, the U.S. would apply “border adjustments” — a surcharge on those countries’ imports and rebates on U.S. exports to them.

If you like what Reps. Costello and Meehan have done so far on climate issues, let them know, and encourage them to keep up the good work by supporting a market-based climate protection strategy that pays dividend checks to all Americans. — Lauren Kauffman Phoenixville