Harnessing technology for climate change

Because the carbon price in this bill starts slowly at $15 per carbon ton, the impact is low at first but increases gradually over the years allowing time for companies to adjust by incorporating new and better energy choices and production methodologies.

Also, because the carbon price is applied at the source of fossil fuel production, the number of payees is known and limited. We avoid the image of millions of companies trying to estimate their carbon footprint and paying new fees.

Lastly, there are hundreds of not thousands of ideas percolating throughout our economy and research institutions about ways to reduce carbon. They await the incentive for primary investment to scale up for commercial use. A small but increasing carbon fee is just that incentive.

The second point is that the revenue collected from fossil fuel producers will go equally to households (with adjustments for children and farmers) less the administrative cost (estimated about 3% long term). What this means is that households will be capable of coping with any short-term price increases as companies adjust to emitting less carbon. It also means that best practices are more likely to prevail as government will not be picking winners and losers.

— Brenda Pace, Bend