Archive of Quotes of Note

[A] pivotal moment is approaching in Washington, one in which overarching tax reform actually might take place. Such a moment could provide political cover for [a revenue-neutral carbon] tax.”

Jeffrey Ball, Facing the Truth About Climate Change, The New Republic, Feb. 4.

We overuse dirty fuels – spending more on them than we would if their full cost was reflected in prices. This is not some kind of government planning argument – it is the straightforward logic of the market: that which is not paid for is overused.”

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers, in Why Now is the Right Time for a U.S. Carbon Tax, Scholars Strategy Network, Jan. 2015. Summers published a close copy of that post as an op-ed in the Washington Post, Oil’s swoon creates the opening for a carbon tax, on Jan. 4.

‘We were told it would destroy the economy and we’d never get elected again, but we’ve won two elections since [our carbon tax] was enacted’ five years ago, according to Mary Polak [British Columbia’s] Minister of Environment. ‘It’s the revenue neutrality that really makes it work. We collected C$1.2 billion last year and a little bit more was returned.’ “

Journalist James Fahn, in At Climate Talks in Lima, Only the Arguing Remains the Same (a post embedded in Andrew Revkin’s Dot Earth blog, Dec. 14).

For Republicans, the issue of climate change, like immigration and same-sex marriage, is one that potential candidates and their advisers are starting to grapple with as they try to carve a path to the presidency, while winning support from a new generation of more diverse voters.”

NY Times, In Climate Deal With China, Obama May Set 2016 Theme, by Coral Davenport, Nov. 12.

It’s much more likely that countries could agree on a carbon price than that they could agree on a system of caps that differs like [the White House – EPA plan] does among states.”

Harvard economist Dale Jorgenson, in Time To Tax Carbon, Harvard magazine, Sept-Oct 2014.

Once people have to pay for their emissions, they find ingenious ways of reducing them.”

Cornell University economics professor Robert H. Frank, in Shattering Myths to Help the Climate, NY Times Sunday Business section, August 3.

A straight-up, revenue-neutral carbon tax clearly is our first-best policy, rewarding an infinite and unpredictable variety of innovations by which humans would satisfy their energy needs while releasing less carbon into the atmosphere.”

Wall Street Journal columnist Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. in Birth of a Climate Mafia, July 2.

The history of leaving $100 bills buried in the ground is really a short one.”

M.I.T. professor of environmental economics Michael Greenstone, in The Potential Downside of Natural Gas, by Matt Wald, NY Times, June 3.

When you pay for something, you don’t ask for more you ask for less.

NYC resident “Omar,” heard on a March 26 Radio 1010-WINS news report on proposed City legislation requiring retailers to charge 10 cents for bags. (Sorry, no audio link.)