New carbon tax could stimulate economy, cut emissions, climatologist claims

A simple solution to two of America’s greatest challenges—global warming and a weak economy—could be achieved by taxing energy-producing companies $10 for each ton of carbon emissions released into the air and giving all the money to legal U.S. residents, climatologist James Hansen told a National Press Club Newsmaker audience on Aug. 29.

Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and an adjunct professor of environmental science at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, urged immediate government action to significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions and called on President Barack Obama to deny licensing of the planned Keystone XL Pipeline, which would move tar-sands oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.

Hansen presented scientific data to show that the globe’s ice sheets are melting, a condition caused by increasing carbon usage.

“If we get to the point where we are sure to get a multi-meter sea level rise, that is basically ‘game over’ for coastal cities,” Hansen said.

He added that other indicators are an increasing number of droughts and hotter wildfires spawned by rapidly changing atmospheric conditions.

“You have to put a price on the thing that’s causing the problem, and that is carbon emissions,” he said, claiming the tax would stimulate the economy by providing money to 60 percent of the U.S. population while improving global air quality.

Hansen said the levy he proposes -- designed to rise to $100 per ton in 10 years -- could generate $600 billion a year, or between $2,000 to $9,000 per family. Those with more children would get more money.

The tax, he added, would reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent in the United States — an amount equal to 13 Keystone pipelines.

He acknowledged that the carbon fee and dividend idea had gained little support in Washington and was even deemed “unrealistic” by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Nevertheless, Hansen said his mission is to educate Americans about the threat posed to the planet by carbon emissions. He plans to engage in a peaceful civil disobedience event at the White House to make his point.

Expressing disappointment in Obama’s leadership on environmental issues, he vowed that if the tar sands pipeline project is approved, his movement will respond.

“We will be back and our numbers will grow,” Hansen said. “Truth is, we have a planetary emergency. The danger is, we can pass tipping points of the climate system in which the dynamics of the climate system take over and begin to have changes that are out of our control.”