The Minutes to the June 17th meeting of the Tompkins Legislature have finally been approved and posted, over a month later. A link to the entire Minutes is below and below that the Carbon Tax Resolution as passed and the accompanying discussion.
Sylvester Johnson, Margaret McCasland and I spoke at this meeting during “Privilege of the Floor”. The original resolution by the Environmental Management Council had a provision stating that if a carbon tax were not enacted, cap and auction would be the next best choice. However as noted below, the Legislature voted to remove that Resolve in favor of a stronger, clearer statement in support of the federal carbon tax. Sylvester’s unfailing persistence (with the support if the Climate Change Action Group) succeeded. The final vote in favor of the carbon Tax Resolution was 10- 4 falling exactly along party lines. BTW while the action of passing a federal carbon tax resolution may seem "cheap" it is a clear statement of support for what should be also be national policy. Local measures are of course vitally important and can certainly lead by examples. But it's tough for a locality to stand alone so acting on both levels is necessary. I actually think passing a local resolution for a federal tax is still a comparatively daring thing to do. And I can tell you there is nothing cheap in any sense of the word about the effort to launch a federal carbon tax initiative...Sylvester has invested a great deal of time and gone to considerable expense for 5 ads in nationwide publications. And other members of CCAG, especially Margaret and I, have also put in alot of work. Jeanne http://www.tompkins-co.org/legislature/minutes/6-17-08.pdf Individual Member-Filed Resolution(s) RESOLUTION NO. 126 – EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR FEDERAL ACTION TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS THROUGH THE MECHANISM OF A CARBON TAX MOVED by Ms. Chock, seconded by Mrs. McBean-Clairborne. Ms. Chock thanked the Environmental Management Council for their work on the resolution. She spoke of the need for Federal action on carbon emissions and that the City of Ithaca and Town of Ithaca both weighed in on the conversations. The resolution is the result of four months of presentations by scientists, environmentalists, and concerned citizens. Ms. Chock noted it is a complex issue and the resolution speaks to how to achieve reductions. While many agree that carbon emissions must be reduced, there is disagreement about how best to achieve that. This resolution stresses the need to reduce and offers a compromise position on the recommendation to federal and other officials about how to proceed. Ms. Chock thanked Ms. Kiefer for her work in preparing the resolution and urged members to support it. Mr. Stevenson appreciated the work but is not supportive of the resolution. Although it is a complicated issue he cannot support more taxes. Ms. Herrera agreed it is a complex issue=2 0and is grateful for those who explained the concern of carbon emissions and therefore it is a tax she could support, although not the portion referring to trade and auction. It was MOVED by Ms. Herrera, seconded by Ms. Robertson, to remove the following Resolved from the resolution: “RESOLVED, further, That if a carbon tax fails to pass at the Federal Level, the Tompkins County Legislature declares its support for a cap-and-auction system as a next-best alternative, with the following caveats: • polluters should pay for the right to pollute, using auctions not allotments, and should not be given permits at zero cost, • the cap-and-auction should be implemented as far upstream as possible, with auction via a single open market that is national not global, and with public monitoring to ascertain the validity of the system, • the system should be strictly national; offsets would not be allowed; a significant penalty should be imposed for fossil-fuel use without allowances, • a “hard cap” should be set for all large users of fossils fuels together, reduced every year, and reach eighty percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (as CO2 equivalents) by 2050.” A voice vote on the amendment resulted as follows: Ayes – 10 (Legislators Burbank, Dennis, Herrera, Koplinka-Loehr, Mackesey, McBean-Clairborne, Robertson, Shinagawa Sigler, and Stevenson); Noes – 4 (Legislators Chock, Kief er, Hattery, and Proto); Excused – 1 (Legislator Randall). AMENDMENT APPROVED. Ms. Robertson will support the resolution, noting it is now a stronger document and she believes if the government had taken action when this problem was first discovered we would be better off. Mr. Hattery agrees with Mr. Stevenson regarding citizens’ need to limit taxation. Mr. Burbank expressed his belief that at a local level the resolution expresses community concern and should percolate to the level required. He hopes the community will continue discussions to exhibit strong support for the reduction of carbon emissions. Mr. Sigler does not support the resolution and feels it does not sequester the problem, rather it punishes those creating it. In addition, he does not feel another tax is appropriate, that the present fuel tax should be utilized to address the problem. Mr. Dennis will support the resolution, noting it expresses a concern to the appropriate government officials. A voice vote on the resolution resulted as follows: Ayes – 10 (Legislators Burbank, Chock, Dennis, Herrera, Kiefer, Koplinka-Loehr, Mackesey, McBean-Clairborne, Robertson, and Shinagawa); Noes – 4 (Legislators Hattery, Proto, Sigler, and Stevenson); Excused – 1 (Legislator Randall). RESOLUTION ADOPTED. WHEREAS, global warming, characterized by extremes of climate change, has been identified by an overwhelming consensus of scientists as caused primarily by carbon dioxide emissions from manmade sources and by widespread def orestation, and WHEREAS, global warming threatens economies and ecosystems throughout the world, and WHEREAS, legislation at the Federal level is being considered for reductions in heat-trapping emissions of greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide, through either a Federal carbon tax or emissions trading, and WHEREAS, the outcome of this legislative debate will substantially affect residents of Tompkins County for decades, and WHEREAS, both tradable pollution permits and taxing environmental pollution are economic methods to reach environmental goals, with the main difference between them being that (1) with permits, government sets the amount of emissions that are allowed and lets the market set the price of the permits as they are auctioned off or traded; in contrast (2) with an environmental tax the price of the environmentally destructive pollution is set by the government as the tax rate, and the market determines the amount of pollution that will occur at that price, and WHEREAS, either auctioning pollution allowances or implementing a tax will raise Federal revenues that can be used to relieve the cost burden on low-income persons and to underwrite the development of alternative sustainable energy systems, and WHEREAS, offsets and trading across national borders make the system particularly hard to monitor and enforce, inviting noncompliance, and WHEREAS, both carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems can be effective means of reducing emissions of CO2, so from the perspective of economic theory they are equivalent, but from the regulatory and administrative perspective a tax is more cost effective, and June 17, 2008 13 WHEREAS, the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council has examined these issues and passed Resolution No. 01-2008 “Resolution Recommending County Support for a Federal Carbon Tax”, now therefore be it RESOLVED, That for these environmental, economic, and administrative reasons, the Tompkins County Legislature declares its support for enactment of a Federal carbon tax on importers and domestic extractors and refiners of fossil fuels, to be levied upstream in order to minimize the number of entities being directly taxed and the expense of monitoring compliance, with revenues directed to tax relief for low- and moderate-income households and financial support for conservation and sustainable energy programs, with public monitoring to assure compliance, RESOLVED, further, That copies of the resolution shall be sent to the Tompkins County State and Federal representatives as well as the Chair and Members of the appropriate Senate and House Committees. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
