Make oil companies pay

Regarding “State might not refill rebate fund for electric cars” (Front Page, May 3): I appreciate Dustin Gardiner pointing out how tricky it is to make climate programs equitable. He rightly points out that electric car subsidies increase electric vehicle sales but benefit wealthy Californians most.

One fair, effective approach would be to make fossil fuel companies pay to pollute. If they paid a fee equal to the social cost of the greenhouse gases their products emit, all carbonintensive products would get more expensive. People would be motivated to move to lowcarbon products and services, and businesses would be motivated to invest in and provide them. To make such a carbon fee equitable, we can distribute the money collected from the fee to all Americans on a perperson basis.

Lowincome people would come out ahead because they pollute less (e.g. fly less, drive less and have smaller homes), so they would pay into the fund less, but still get an even share out. Recently, such carbon dividends legislation, the Energy Innovation Act, was cosponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland. Let’s thank her for her leadership on carbon dividends — an equitable, effective approach to climate action. Ted Obbard, Berkeley