Inslee's carbon gas tax proposal is proactive

Gov. Jay Inslee’s carbon tax proposal isn’t “filled with holes,” as the opinion piece in the Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, charges, but the piece itself is. Its most egregious flaw is the oft-repeated contention by “deniers” that, “... the science behind (climate change), and how man plays into it is hardly settled.” Yes it is! The science is unequivocal in pointing to human caused greenhouse gas emissions as the primary driver of global warming.

The overwhelming majority of scientists and virtually every scientific organization, domestic and international, support that conclusion. Anyone who claims otherwise cannot be taken seriously. Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, let’s consider other points in the opinion piece.

The editorial states that putting a price on carbon will drive up fuel costs and that will be an “inconvenience” to people who use private vehicles to drive to work. Not to sound unsympathetic, but how does that inconvenience weigh against people in California and Texas losing their farms/ranches because they have no water, or people along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington losing their homes and livelihoods because of extreme storm surges brought about by sea level rise?

The editorial is correct on one count. Putting a price on carbon will raise a variety of costs that will ripple through the economy. What the editorial doesn’t say is that we are already incurring costs as a result of carbon pollution. They are termed “social costs” and they are huge. The National Resources Defense Council estimates that when federal spending on droughts, storms, floods and forest fires are added up, the U.S. spent nearly $100 billion in 2012 on climate-related damage; more than was spent on transportation or education.

Researchers at MIT found that savings from health benefits alone were 10.5 times higher than the cost of implementing a cap and trade program.

Gov. Inslee is being proactive about addressing the threat of climate change, as well he should be. Washington is particularly vulnerable, as a 2013 study by the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group showed. Whether we implement cap and trade, or a revenue neutral carbon fee, or both, matters less than when we implement a fix. We’ve already waited too long.

Richard Badalamente

Kennewick, Wash.