Pluses and Minuses of a Carbon Tax
NMA CEO Hal Quinn responds to the June 7th editorial: “The Case for a Carbon Tax”:
To the Editor:
Your editorial correctly assesses the Big Six European oil and gas chief executives’ call for a carbon tax as anything but a bold environmental stand. Self-interest motivates their plea for taxes to displace their chief competitor, coal, especially in developing countries using coal to power their economies and lift hundreds of millions from poverty.
Equating federal and state gasoline taxes in the United States to a carbon tax is strained. A better example would be the carbon adder embedded in the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant proposal.
The agency’s plan relies upon a $33-per-ton carbon penalty to force the use of more expensive electricity over cheaper sources. According to the Southwest Power Pool, the grid operator for eight states, the proposal will require it to effectively impose a $45-per-ton carbon tax on its customers.
The emission reductions under the E.P.A.’s costly power plan over 10 years will be largely wiped out by global emissions in a single year.
President and Chief Executive
National Mining Association
Washington
See the letter to the editor here.
- On June 15, 2015