Global Warming and Energy Independence

We need to focus on how to address environmental problems in the real world today. Reducing our consumption of fossil fuels – through sustainable practices, technology development and alternative energy sources – must be a primary objective of environmental legislation. Some solutions include:

Telecommute tax credit

Our telecommunications infrastructure is one of our nation’s most valuable assets. It has allowed us to increase productivity, and it has encouraged competition and changed the world for the better. Now it’s time to harness telecommunications technology wisely and creatively in service of the environment to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, our dependence on foreign oil, greenhouse-gas emissions and traffic congestion. As senator, I will introduce legislation for a Telecommute Tax Credit that would give employers tax credits for allowing employees to work from home either full or part time.

As senator, I will also advocate for tax incentives for companies that provide broadband Internet access to areas without service and to increase speeds in areas with service. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation projects that with improved high-speed broadband home connections, the number of telecommuters would grow nearly four-fold, increasing to 19 million by 2012. That would save 1.5 billion hours of commute time and reduce gasoline consumption in the United States by 5 percent. This fuel savings will reduce oil imports, thereby improving our balance of trade by more than $700 billion per year.

Reducing commuter driving will also slow the effects of global warming. According to eWorkPlace, a state-sponsored telework program in Minneapolis-St. Paul, automobiles and light trucks (including SUVs) account for 20 percent of U.S. fossil-fuel emissions, including derived carbon dioxide, a key contributor to the greenhouse effect. A 90-minute daily round-trip commute – a common daily commuting time – emits nine pounds of carbon monoxide and 45 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.

Incentives for sustainable environmental choices

The environment belongs to us all. Environmental policy should create incentives and disincentives that encourage sustainable environmental choices. We need to start imposing costs on practices that harm the environment so there is rational decision making when it comes to production and consumption choices. These costs will serve as incentives for individuals and businesses to make conscious, environmentally sound choices, such as producing and buying fuel-efficient vehicles or carbon capture-and-sequestration technology.

A disincentive cost is not a tax. Disincentive costs, which take the form of credits purchased to allow release of specified amounts of carbons, can be averted by responsible behavior. For example, power companies can avoid paying for carbon emissions in a cap-and-trade program by installing state-of-the art technology such as scrubbers on coal plants, converting to green sources such as solar or wind energy, or selling carbon credits.

Revenues generated by disincentive costs can be used to develop progressive technologies that promote social responsibility while accommodating free choice and free enterprise. These technologies will spur job creation and economic development and make us more globally competitive.

As senator I will support comprehensive cap-and-trade climate-change legislation that will provide incentives to reduce global-warming emissions while putting millions of people back to work in clean-energy jobs and promoting long-term economic growth.

Disincentive costs and cap-and-trade auction revenues and can fund development of:

• vehicle fuel-cell/battery technologies
• wind, solar, geothermal and biomass power
• commercial building retrofits and home weatherization
• mass transit, high speed rail and freight rail
• high-speed broadband Internet access

As senator I will also support the creation of incentives such as tax credits that will:

1. Offset rising energy costs to low- and moderate-income families and adversely impacted regions of the United States
2. Provide mechanisms to account for global competition in energy-intensive industries (such as a carbon tax on imports). 

Creation of green jobs

As our nation moves away from reliance on fossil fuels, we will create the next generation of clean energy and the sustainable green jobs that come with it.

A study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst concluded that significant investment in global-warming solutions would create 2 million jobs in two years, four times the jobs created by investing the same amount in expanding our oil supply. These green investments will create three times the number of good jobs – paying $16 or more an hour – than the number of such jobs created by the same investment in oil.

As senator I will support job-training legislation to produce a skilled workforce prepared for green industries. I will also support the pending “Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act,” which would create a $30 billion revolving loan fund to help auto suppliers and other small and medium-sized manufacturers retool their facilities to build clean-energy technologies such as solar panels, fuel cells and battery technology.