Virginia Senator Mark Warner told constituents at a recent townhall style event that while America needs to maintain a robust response to climate change, we must continue to look at the carbon tax as a way to end carbon emissions.
On Saturday, August 24, Sen. Warner met with Virginia voters at the Williamsburg Regional Library to discuss a variety of topics.
When asked about climate change, Warner responded, "We need to look into a carbon tax, and we need to keep all energy options on the table, from solar to natural gas to nuclear, but the big solutions won’t come from the government, but from industry and technology."
"I want to point out that while the USA may not have signed into Kyoto, we still met it’s goals ahead of the European countries that did, largely because that’s the direction technology was already headed," Warner added.
As pointed out by Danielle Butcher of the American Conservation Coalition, the carbon tax would wreak havoc on the economy at large and do little to actually stop carbon emissions.
Butcher wrote in a recent op-ed for the Washington Examiner that "climate change is a global problem, and a carbon tax is only a local solution. The United States led the world in emissions reductions in 2017, but even if we reduce our emissions to zero, other nations will still disproportionately contribute to the problem. This means we’ll take on extra costs for little results."
Likewise, Butcher observes that while some like Warner say it's compatible with an above all energy approach. "carbon pricing is not a free-market solution, as its very essence is the addition of regulation and extra costs in the market. While the policy is market-based, it’s still a form of government intervention."
Thus, one could reason that the carbon tax Warner advocates would effectively kill the industry and technology he claims to support. Carbon taxing would force companies and individuals to pay extra taxes and fees in relation to the amount of carbon emissions they put into the air.