The alliance is wrong on I-732

The Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy complains that I-732 will raise the price of fossil fuels, and it will be hard on the poor. This is true: the initiative does transfer a lot of money to the poor, but some problems will remain.

A single bill can’t solve all the problems. Changing over from carbon fuels to cleaner fuels means changing a whole way of life. We must convert from single-passenger cars to mass transportation, for example, and from houses warmed by furnaces to houses that don’t need much heat because they are so well insulated.

It’s true the Carbon Tax initiative doesn’t have a plan for how to make all the changes. How could it? Could I-732 mandate that all buses be free? That is probably what we need in the long run.

In many cases, what exactly is needed won’t become evident until later on. Some people have long commutes which will become even more unaffordable, but should we give them more money for gas? If so, they will still be emitting all that Co2! Maybe they should adjust their lives (with help) so they don’t have the commutes, or maybe that solar airplane will finally be invented. We don’t know. We just have to be vigilant and try to solve problems as they come along.

But we do have to start in on the changeover from carbon fuel to renewables. The alternative is just to stick with carbon fuels. None of us wants that.

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 7:17 PM with the headline "The alliance is wrong on I-732."