Statement of Support For Auctioning All Allowances In Any Global Warming Cap-And-Trade Program
Rising seas along the East Coast. More intense hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. Increased drought and water shortages in the
West. These are just a few of the impacts scientists believe will result from
unrestrained global warming – impacts that will leave no corner of America unaffected.
Science tells us that, to avoid
the most dangerous impacts of global warming, America and the world must take immediate action to reduce emissions of
global warming pollutants. In the United States, that means halting the growth in global warming emissions now,
reducing emissions by at least 15 to 20 percent by 2020, and achieving
reductions of at least 80 percent by mid-century.
America has the tools to achieve these goals. We are the most technologically
and economically advanced nation in the world, blessed with vast natural and
intellectual resources. And our nation has a track record of responding to
major challenges and achieving unthinkable goals.
All Americans have a
responsibility to act to prevent dangerous global warming. But the oil, coal,
auto, and electric utility industries have a special responsibility. For decades, these industries have fouled the
atmosphere and done so free of charge, despoiling a gift of nature that
rightfully belongs to us all.
This
must now end. The time has come to limit America’s emissions of global warming pollutants,
the vast majority of which come from the burning of fossil fuels. In so doing,
our political leaders must ensure that polluters pay for the right to use our
most precious common resource – the atmosphere – with the revenues used to ease
America’s transition to a clean energy economy and
to benefit the public at large.
Auctioning
Allowances in Cap-and-Trade: A Clean, Fair, and Smart Solution to Global
Warming
There are many paths America can take to reducing global warming emissions. Among them are
“cap-and-trade” programs that couple a cap on emissions with a mechanism that
allows businesses to buy, sell and trade “allowances” to pollute.
It is critical that any
cap-and-trade program require the auctioning of pollution allowances, rather
than giving those allowances away for free to polluters.
By auctioning pollution allowances,
we affirm that no one has a “right” to pollute. Instead, we claim the
atmosphere as a common resource, to be managed for the benefit of the public,
which no polluter may foul without due compensation.
By auctioning pollution
allowances, we reduce the societal cost of achieving emission reductions,
enabling America to achieve its climate protection goals with less disruption to our
economy and the lives of individual Americans.
And by auctioning pollution
allowances, we prevent the accumulation of billions of dollars in
windfall
profits by polluters, and instead put those revenues to work on behalf
of the
public. Allowance revenues can support efforts to transform America
into a clean energy economy and to provide a regular dividend or
rebate to American consumers.
We call on state and federal
lawmakers to limit global warming emissions to the levels demanded by the
science and to auction all pollution allowances in any cap-and-trade program.
Carl Pope
Executive
Director
Sierra Club
San Francisco, California
Mark
Cooper
Research
Director
Consumer Federation of America
Washington, DC
Chad Dobson
Director
of Government Affairs
Oxfam America
Boston, Massachusetts
Roger
Hickey and Robert Borosage
Co-Directors
Campaign for America's Future
Washington, DC
Margie
Alt
Executive
Director
U.S.PIRG:
Federation of State PIRGs
Boston, MA
Ilyse
Hogue
Campaign
Director
MoveOn.org
Lynn Thorp
National
Campaigns Coordinator
Clean Water Action
Washington, DC
Howard A. Learner
Executive Director
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Chicago, Illinois
Michael
Brune
Executive
Director
Rainforest Action Network
San Francisco, California
Erich Pica
Director,
Domestic Campaigns
Friends of the Earth
Washington, DC
Gary D. Bass
Executive Director
OMB Watch
Washington, D.C.
John
Passacantando
Executive
Director
Greenpeace
Washington, DC
David
Morris
Vice
President
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Washington, DC
Rev.
Sally Bingham
President
The Regeneration Project / Interfaith Power &
Light
San Francisco, California
Van
Jones, J.D.
President
& Founder
Ella Baker Center for Human
Rights
Oakland, California
Tyson
Slocum
Director,
Energy Program
Public Citizen
Washington, DC
Bill
McKibben
Step It Up 2007
Burlington, Vermont
Stephen
A. Smith
Executive
Director
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Knoxville, Tennessee
Seth
Kaplan
Senior
Attorney
Conservation Law Foundation
Rachel
McMahon
Director
of Regulatory Affairs
Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Technologies
Sacramento, California
Ralph M.
Martire
Executive
Director
Center for Tax and Budget Accountability
Chicago, Illinois
Frank
O’Donnell
President
Clean Air Watch
Washington, DC
V. John
White
Executive
Director
Clean Power Campaign
Sacramento, California
Tam Hunt
Energy
Program Director / Attorney
Community Environmental Council
Santa Barbara, California
Kristen A. Sheeran, PhD
Director
E3 Network: Economics for Equity and the Environment
Tom
Athanasiou
Executive
Director
EcoEquity
Jason
Barbose
Global
Warming Advocate
Environment California
Sacramento, California
Bill
LaBorde
Program
Director
Environment Washington
Seattle, Washington
David
Gahl
Air and
Energy Program Director
Environmental Advocates of New York
Albany, New York
Jeremiah
Bauman
Environmental
Advocate
Environment Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Eban
Goodstein
Project Director
Focus the Nation
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Michael
Noble
Executive
Director
Fresh Energy
St. Paul, Minnesota
Matt
Baker
Executive
Director
Environment Colorado
Denver, Colorado
K.C.
Golden
Policy
Director
Climate Solutions
Seattle, Washington
Diane
Brown
Director
Arizona PIRG
Phoenix, Arizona
Edward
(Ned) W. Stowe III
Senior Legislative Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Washington, DC
Charlie
Higley, Executive Director
Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Erik
Magnuson
Environmental
Associate
Environment Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Fred
Schlicher
Acting
Executive Director
Massachusetts Climate
Action Network
Boston, Massachusetts
Lauren
Ketcham
Advocate
Environment New
Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
David R.
Celebrezze
Director of Air & Water Special Projects
Ohio
Environmental Council
Columbus, Ohio
Rex
Wilmouth
Director
CoPIRG
Denver, Colorado
Luke
Metzger
Environment Texas
Austin, Texas
Gary
Patton
Executive
Director
Planning and Conservation League
Sacramento, California
Emily
Rusch
Advocate
CALPIRG
Sacramento, California
Becky
Stanfield
Director
Environment Illinois
Chicago, Illinois
Dan
Kohler
Director
Wisconsin Environment
Madison, Wisconsin
Erin
Bowser
Director
Environment Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Alex
Matthiessen
President
Riverkeeper, Inc.
Tarrytown, New York
Dena
Mottola
Executive
Director
Environment New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Ken
Bossong
Executive
Director
SUN DAY Campaign
Takoma Park, Maryland
Mark
Ferrulo
Director
Environment Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Matt
Auten
Advocate
Environment Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Carrie La
Seur, Ph.D., J.D.
Plains Justice
Mount Vernon, Iowa
John
Blair
President
Valley Watch
Evansville, Indiana
Brad
Heavner
Director
Environment Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Chris
Phelps
Advocate
Environment Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Marian
Riggs Gelb
Executive
Director
Iowa
Environmental Council
Des Moines, Iowa
Jennette
Gayer
Advocate
Environment Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Erika
Staaf
Advocate
Environment New
Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
Paul
Burns
Executive
Director
VPIRG (Vermont Public Interest Research Group)
Montpelier, Vermont
Elizabeth
Ouzts
Director
Environment North
Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Frank
Gorke
Executive
Director
Environment
Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts
Betsy
Taylor
Founder
Center for a New American Dream
Takoma Park, Maryland
Steve
Kirsch
Chairman
Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation
San Jose, California
Harriet
Barlow
Director
HKH Foundation
New York, New York
Ann Hancock
Executive Director
Climate Protection Campaign
Graton, California
Casey
Ehrlich
Blanket the Globe
Salem, Massachusetts
INDIVIDUALS (affiliation for identification purposes only)
Robert
Reich
Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
James K.
Boyce
Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
George Lakoff
University of California, Berkeley
The
Rockridge Institute
James
Gustave Speth
Author of
Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment
William
E. Spriggs, Ph.D.
Professor
and Chair, Department of Economics, Howard University
Billy
Parish
Energy
Action Coalition
Martha
Phillips
Former
Executive Director, Concord Coalition
Peter Barnes
Senior Fellow, Tomales Bay Institute
Allen L.
White
Tellus
Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Juliet
Schor
Chair and
Professor, Department of Sociology, Boston College
Joe
Nation
Former
Assemblyman (D-Marin/Sonoma)
Lecturer
in Public Policy, Stanford University
William
R. Freudenburg
Dehlsen Professor of Environment and Society, Environmental Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara
Pran R.
Young
Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dave
Olsen
Initiator,
California Climate Action Registry
Jonathan
Isham
Luce
Professor of International Environmental Economics
Middlebury College
Middlebury, Vermont
Sara J.
Weinheimer
Managing
Partner, Verde Venture Partners
Garrett
Greuner
Founder,
Ask.com
Dean
Baker
Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Jonathan
F P Rose
President,
Jonathan Rose Companies
Robert
Perkowitz,
Managing
Partner, VivaTerra, LLC
William
Bates
Step It
Up 2007
Joshua
Skov, MA, LEED AP
Principal,
Good Company
Burns H
Weston
Bessie Dutton Murray Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Senior
Scholar, UI Center for Human Rights (UICHR), University of Iowa
Vermont Law School Visiting Distinguished Professor
of International Law
and Policy
Gary
Flomenhoft
Fellow,
Gund Institute
David
Sassoon
President,
Science First
Edward
Skloot
Robin
Hahnel, PhD
Professor
of Economics, American University
Peter Dorman
Economist, Evergreen State College
Juliette
Anthony
Californians
for Renewable Energy (CARE)
Rafael Aguilera
Principal, The Verde Group
Jonathan
Isham
Luce
Professor of International Environmental Economics, Middlebury College
Tracy
Bach
Professor, Vermont Law School; Senior Research Fellow and
Associate Director, Climate Legacy Initiative
Rick Reed
President,
BeeLine Associates
Ildiko Polony
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Lori A.
Ehrlich, CPA, MPA
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