Committee on Ways and Means Hearing on Scientific Objectives for Climate Change Legislation Wednesday, February 25, 2009

From the U.S. house of Representatives:

Statement of Dr. James Hansen, Adjunct Professor, The Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, New York

Testimony Before the House Committee on Ways and Means

February 25, 2009

...Carbon Tax and 100% Dividend

If we continue to subsidize fossil fuels and do not impose a carbon price, our automobile manufacturers will likely fail – they are being instructed to build fuel-efficient vehicles, which will be in limited demand as long as fossil fuels do not have to pay their true costs. Similarly, “renewable energy portfolios” for utilities will rip off the public (rate-payers), with marginal benefit for the environment. Energy-inefficient buildings will continue to be built. And so on.

The most honest effective way to achieve a carbon price capable of driving our economy and our society to the clean world of the future is “Carbon Tax with 100% Dividend”[3]. For example, a carbon price equivalent to $1/gallon of gasoline (about $115 per ton of CO₂), for 2007 rates of fossil fuel use in the United States, generates $670B. If we give one share to each legal resident age 22 and over, one half-share to college age youth (18-21), one half-share to the parents of each child up to two children per family, that yields about 224 million shares in 2007 (this could be off by ~10%; I could not find optimum census data). So the 100% Dividend for a $1/gallon tax rate ($115 per ton of CO₂) is:

Single share: $3000/year ($250 per month, deposited monthly in bank account)

Family with 2 children: $9000/year ($750 per month, deposited monthly in bank account)...

Complete prepared statement. The hearing transcript is not yet available.

Here are the statements of all three witnesses:

Witnesses
	Panel:
	Dr. James Hansen, Adjunct Professor, The Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, New York
	Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, Climate Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists
	Dr. John Christy, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science and Director of the Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama