George Wilkes came before the Grand Marais City Council on Jan. 11 with a request for the council to adopt a Carbon Fee and Dividend (CFD) resolution that would be forwarded to the state’s top politicians and to national leaders. Wilkes, a member of the Grand Marais Public Utilities Committee (PUC) and co-chair of the Grand Marais/Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), has been working for the past year on matters of Carbon Fee and Dividend.
What is Carbon Fee and Dividend? As Wilkes explained, it is a policy created by CCL to account for the costs of burning fossil fuels. It is the public policy that climate scientists and economists alike say is the best first step to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic climate change from global warming.
CCL and Citizens’ Climate Education hired Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. (REMI), a think tank, to come up with an economic model of what would happen if Congress passed CFD legislation. REMI predicted that in 10 years there would be a 33 percent decline in CO2 emissions, and a 52 percent drop after 20 years. With much of the CO2 out of the atmosphere, 13,000 lives would be saved annually after 10 years with a cumulative 227,000 American lives saved over 20 years.
National employment would increase by 2.1 million jobs after 10 years and 2.8 million after 20 years. Electrical generation from coal would be phased out after 2025. Electricity prices would peak in 2026, and then start to decrease. The biggest gains would be in healthcare, retail, and other services because more people would have more money in their pockets to spend. As green energy became a bigger part of the equation and oil less, the country would also be less dependent upon foreign sources to fuel our consumption of energy.
Simply put, the Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal, if enacted, would impose a carbon fee on all fossil fuels and other greenhouse gases at the point where they first enter the economy. Fees would be collected by the U.S. Treasury Department. All of the fees collected would be placed in the Carbon Fees Trust Fund and be rebated 100 percent to American households.
Because costs of energy would initially go up, a Border Adjustment would be included in the legislation. Carbon-Fee-Equivalent Tariffs would be charged for goods entering the U.S. from countries without comparable Carbon Fees/Carbon Pricing. Carbon-Fee-Equivalent rebates would be used to reduce the price of exports to such countries and to ensure that U.S. goods can remain competitive in those countries.
This would ensure that U.S.-made goods remain competitive at home and abroad and would provide an additional incentive for international adoptions of carbon fees.
Wilkes presented much more information, and when he was done he answered questions from the council who were supportive of the initiative. When a vote was called, council voted unanimously to support CFD, and the resolution will be forwarded to area and national legislators.
Following the recommendation of the planning commission and receiving no negative feedback at a public hearing, the council approved a variance to allow John and Evonne Halvorsen to build a single family home on a lot that is smaller than the city usually allows for homes. The property was previously approved for a home site for the current sellers and the intended home will meet all setback requirements, and will not encroach on any neighbor’s property.
Council also approved a conditional use permit to convert three existing apartment units into four 2-bedroom apartments to 47N 90W Enterprises LLC, with the understanding that six off-street parking spaces are available. The property is located at 204 First Avenue West.
Council designated the Grand Marais State Bank as its depository of city funds and designated the Cook County News-Herald as the city’s official newspaper.
Leave a Reply