Fossils are not Fuels
image credit: Angie Wang for NY Times
We must transition to 100% clean energy to end reliance on fossil carbons as fuel. Existing products, equipment, and infrastructure that burn fossil hydrocarbons must be replaced and retired before their end of useful life. This transition will increase employment while disrupting careers, savings, and income; so we must honor our debt to the labor which built our current prosperity.
As a representative of the youngest district in the nation, I have an obligation to protect and fight for a future for the 11 year olds, like my daughter, who will live in a 1.5°C warmer world before graduating college. In line with the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C, I will fight with everything I have to ensure a 1.5°C limit on global heating. I recognize the limited carbon budget that responsible accounting clearly demonstrates is compatible with that goal. That budget and the principle of equity together clearly indicate that the U.S. must reach net zero emissions by 2030. There are only around 340GtCO2 – or 8 years of current emissions – remaining, that can be emitted before the world passes 1.5C warming.
To achieve that goal, within a week of being sworn in, I am prepared to introduce legislation “to phase-out the Burning of Fossils Era in the United States of America in order to mitigate global heating of the habitable biosphere, an action most likely to effect the Safety and Happiness of all present and future People, ensuring the Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness survive the present and coming climate crises.” That bill is the Extinguishing the Social License to Burn Fossils Act (ELBA).
In the coming weeks I will be releasing the full bill, but some excerpts are included after the questions below.
Questions
I had some friends review the bill, they asked some questions, and I’m including the answers to a couple of them here:
Will this bill and imposing these taxes destroy a lot of jobs?
It likely will as some owners/investors (capitalists) will decide to take their winnings and close doors rather than reinvest in transitioning to sustainable business models in the Post Fossil Burning Era. Economic need for energy will not disappear with those companies, so capitalists will invest in new and existing businesses to fill the energy demand, creating new jobs. I foresee a net increase in jobs as innovators develop new industry to generate and store sustainable energy.
That being said, this transition will be and needs to be far more disruptive than any past industrial revolution. This is why I support a Green New Deal. This bill alone cannot solve the problems of economic in/security, but I believe it is an important first step that can help to fund social safety nets to support workers that may otherwise be left behind.
What is your position on nuclear power as a source of green energy?
Hands down, existing nuclear power has a role to play and cannot be shut down unless and until other fossil-free energy sources (including small modular Gen IV reactors) first replace 100% of fossil-burning sources and second deploy sufficient capacity (including storage) to back-fill legacy reactors; MWh for MWh. There are a few problems, however, with reliance on nuclear to replace fossils.
First, nuclear is not carbon-neutral nor even fossil-free, as fossils are burned in the mining of ore and construction of reactors, not to mention the environmental in/justice issues surrounding uranium mining (though I’m 100% in favor of reactors that safely use existing weapons as fissile material). It is much easier to remove fossils from the manufacturing supply chain of renewables (such as wind, solar, wave, and tidal) as this involves primarily grid-energy sources.
The second problem with nuclear is the speed of deployment; cost aside, renewables can be scaled and commissioned much faster than nuclear, even in a nuclear-friendly regulatory regime. Because of decades of inaction, we don’t enjoy the luxury of further time and R&D; the transition needs to start now and happen quickly. It is simply not true that 100% of our energy needs cannot be met with renewables + storage alone, even if nuclear will theoretically save a few pennies or dimes on the dollar.
Finally, investment in renewables is also far more beneficial to nations looking to rapidly scale energy production (such as India, Mozambique, Estonia, Myanmar, Botswana, New Caledonia, Guatemala, Vanuatu, etc.) that would traditionally turn to coal or diesel.
That being said, government investment alone will not solve the climate crisis. This bill incentivizes investment in true energy solutions (possibly including nuclear) by removing any incentive to invest in fossils. We would be much further along in a transition to a sustainable energy supply were it not for the R&D spent on hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling, and offshore recovery. These innovations have held off peak-oil and kept the cost of oil and natural gas low—despite this, renewables + storage have now become more economical. Government funding of innovations in nuclear, or even renewables, will not solve the climate crisis until investment in fossil extraction stops. That is the goal of this bill.
Definition
(e) FOSSIL ERA PROFITEER.—The term ‘Fossil Era Profiteer’ means any United States taxpayer including any corporation, proprietorship, partnership, and person, excluding non-owner employees, that—
(1) derives income from the extraction, mining, export, import, or sale of any covered fossil, or
(2) manufactures new machinery intended to burn any covered fossil, or
(3) owns more than 5% of any Fossil Era Profiteer, or
(4) provides financing greater than $500,000 to any Fossil Era Profiteer.
Tax Imposed
(a) A tax is hereby imposed for each taxable year on the fossil profits of every Fossil Era Profiteer.
(b) The amount of the tax imposed by subsection (a) shall be 20 percent of fossil profits plus—
(1) 20 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2023, plus
(2) 20 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2024, plus
(3) 10 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2025, plus
(4) 10 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2026, plus
(5) 5 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2027, plus
(6) 5 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2028, plus
(7) 2 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2029, plus
(8) 2 percent of fossil profits beginning January 1, 2030.
Findings
The Congress finds that—
(1) emissions of greenhouse gasses and other harmful pollutants into our Nation’s air impose substantial costs on all Americans and on future generations of all People; and
(2) burning fossils causes global heating and imposes significant risks and costs on all Americans and all People through ocean acidification and global climate crises, yet remains a keystone of economic growth; it is therefore immoral to profit off a waning economic necessity to burn fossils or delay a transition away from still-profitable extraction of fossils; and
(3) managers and executives of Fossil Era Profiteers have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits that is in direct conflict with successfully mitigating global heating of the habitable biosphere; and
(4) an excise tax on fossils is regressive, disproportionately impacting frontline and vulnerable communities, exacerbating systemic injustices, and leaves intact the moral hazard of profiting off an economic necessity to burn fossils; and
(5) without new regulation on the emission of greenhouse gasses, a new tax structure can align the fiduciary responsibility of managers and executives of Fossil Era Profiteers with the People’s goal of mitigating global heating of the habitable biosphere; and
(6) while this bill in this nation is an important front in mitigating global heating, more legislation in the United States and globally is needed.